The League Cup is fast becoming Crystal Palace’s principal source of cheer. Roy Hodgson ended the night as the second manager within a few weeks to have secured the first win of his tenure at the club in this competition, courtesy of an anxious squeeze beyond Huddersfield Town, on an occasion when the locals revelled less in progress and more in the return of Pape Souaré. The hope is that Hodgson builds on this to enjoy a more productive and protracted spell in charge than the sacked Frank de Boer.
Souaré, recovered from the horrific car crash that had threatened his career, emerged for the second half here and made fine blocks to repel dangerous centres from Aaron Mooy and Scott Malone as the home side rather clung to the slender lead chiselled out back when they had been dominant. Not that Hodgson, Souaré or any of the first-team squad will care.
After the dismal start they have endured in the Premier League, any kind of win will do. “You don’t repair the kind of damage we’ve suffered overnight,” said Hodgson. “It’s going to be a longish and hard process. But I know there’s light at the end of the tunnel and I started to see some shards of that today.”
There were plenty of reasons to be optimistic, even as Palace heaved to retain their advantage. Mamadou Sakho managed 70 minutes on his first appearance since making a £26m move from Liverpool, oozing authority and repelling Huddersfield with everything he had before the fatigue crept in. Jaïro Riedewald, the only other permanent signing of De Boer’s brief spell in charge, looked far more assured in central midfield where his distribution was crisp and, at times, even clever. There was a first clean sheet since mid-May and even a goal to cherish – this team have yet to experience that in five Premier League matches – scored by a makeshift striker on a relatively rare appearance.
Bakary Sako, whose spell in south London has been wrecked by hamstring injuries, had not registered reward since a win at Chelsea back in the late summer of 2015. That seems an age ago. Yet here he was, unmarked at Andros Townsend’s early corner, to guide a simple header across Joel Coleman and into the top corner. “That first half was not good enough,” said Huddersfield’s manager David Wagner. “We were poor in possession, not quick enough, took too many touches and I’m very angry about the situation before the set piece, where we were very sloppy.”
Had Townsend, Jeffrey Schlupp or Patrick van Aanholt made more of presentable opportunities before the interval then this win might have felt comfortable. Yet Palace’s fragile confidence was never likely to earn them that luxury. Instead, as Souaré found his feet and the home side’s rejigged back-line attempted to readjust, Huddersfield rallied.
They had created little other than Tom Ince’s low first-half drive but with Philip Billing and Abdelhamid Sabiri driving them forward, local anxiety set in. Mooy injected more quality and Julián Speroni was forced to smother attempts deep into stoppage time only for Palace to cling on, with Souaré’s contribution ultimately key.
The left-back had started shakily, understandably, but those blocks ended up being critical. “Two important challenges coming across from the left,” said Hodgson. “I threw him in at the deep end and he came out swimming.”
So, too, must Palace. Manchester City will hardly be quaking in their boots at the prospect of confronting them on Saturday but for the former England manager, this was at least a start.
