Want away midfielder Ben Watson scored on his return to the Palace first team, showing manager Neil Warnock just what he has been missing by leaving him out.
Watson was put on the transfer list in the summer after rejecting the offer of a new contract to make him Palace’s highest paid player and Warnock vowed not to play him again until the issue was resolved. However, with a move to Watson’s preferred QPR not coming off and the forced sale of midfielder Tom Soares to Stoke City, Watson was recalled to the starting eleven and scored the Eagles’ first home goal of the campaign.
Warnock alluded to the positive effect Watson had on Palace’s otherwise dull season, calling him “superb” and saying “he can have a contract tomorrow, but he doesn’t want one, so what can you do?”
Palace had not won so far this season and the home fans had not seen so much as a goal in the previous matches against Watford and Burnley. However, this all changed with Watson’s 27th minute goal flying past the motionless Swansea keeper Dorus De Vries, although whether either player knew too much about it remains debatable as it looked suspiciously more a cross than a shot.
Midfielder Nicky Carle secured the three points in the 66th minute with a low drive that De Vries really should have done better with. Signed from Bristol City in the summer, Carle has impressed Eagles fans in the early stages of the season and his third goal in six games will hardly have halted their admiration.
The international break seemed to suit the Eagles better than the Swans, with Palace’s first win also meaning the end of Swansea’s five-match unbeaten run.
There are many positives to be taken for both teams. There will surely be three worse teams than Swansea in the Championship this season, and the early season form which saw them reach seventh in the league can only bode well for what is left to come.
As for Palace, you can’t help but get the impression that they are just a striker short of a genuine promotion challenge. The defence is strong (the best in the league last season) and a midfield of Watson, Carle and Shaun Derry, with pacy youngsters Victor Moses and Sean Scannell to come off the bench, will surely win more games than lose.
However, the lack of goals from the strikers is surely a concern. New signing Alan Lee was ruled out with a hamstring problem after playing only half an hour at Reading in the previous game, and veteran striker James Scowcroft was taken off on a stretcher inside the opening half hour. With no other player brought in in the transfer window, it is difficult to see a team relying on Lee, Scowcroft, the unproven Calvin Andrew and the out of favour Shefki Kuqi being anything other than a mid table team.
Kelly Gerrish
