Saturday 3 January 2015

Aston Villa 0-0 Crystal Palace match report Thursday 1st January 2015


Alan Pardew saw his new Crystal Palace team earn a 0-0 draw against a Villa side struggling to find the net.

The former Newcastle United manager, shocked the football world by leaving the high flying Magpies to try and rescue struggling Palace from the relegation zone, was watching from the stands as his team earned a strong point in their fight to survive the drop.

The point still sees the Eagles’ reside in the bottom four but there were some shows of promise. It was the away team who had the better chances on the afternoon. Yannick Bolassie picked up a loose ball in the centre circle and used his blistering pace to leave the Villa defence eating his dust but his effort one on one with ‘keeper Brad Guzan rattled the crossbar.

Caretaker manager, Keith Millen said after the game: “Alan (Pardew) was watching  and after the game he came down and shook hands with all the lads.” The Palace caretaker boss revealed Pardew was due to sign on the dotted line as soon as Friday.

Villa had chances to win the match but couldn’t convert. Christian Benteke and Alan Hutton both forced saves out of Palace ‘keeper Julian Speroni. The result now means that Villa haven’t scored at all over the Christmas period dating back to their 1-1 draw against Manchester United, four matches ago. The final result was greeted with hostile boos from the Villa Park fans.

Manager Paul Lambert said: “Goals will come... we are creating the chances but just need someone on the end of them.” On the subject of the crowd’s reaction to the game he said: “I understand the fans frustrations. I’m sure if we would have scored no one would have batted an eyelid."

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