Crystal Palace rue missed chances as they are held at home against AEK Larnaca | OneFootball

On a night that could’ve seen Crystal Palace put one foot in the quarter-finals of the Conference League, they were instead left to rue several excellent chances missed.

AEK Larnaca of Cyprus were their opponents at Selhurst Park, and right from the off it was clear they had no desire to score. They set up in a low block and asked Palace to come onto them.

That they did, and they created four excellent chances. Two in the first half, and two in the second. Evan Guessand had the first after only eight minutes, and hit goalkeeper Zlatan Alomerovic in the midriff from point blank range.

That was a sign of things to come. Palace were dangerous for the opening 20 minutes, and Jorgen Strand Larsen also missed a good chance less than three minutes later.

But the bright start quickly dimmed, and the game became monotone. Palace were passing it slowly and had three centre-backs on the pitch.

Given the Cypriot side barely advanced into the Palace half at all during the 90 minutes, it was a surprise that manager Oliver Glasner took so long to go more attacking.

Perhaps he was worried, given that Larnaca upset the hosts when they met in the group phase of this competition in October, and came away with a 1-0 win.

Still, with Yeremy Pino and Jean-Philippe Mateta on the bench, the game was crying out for some impetus.

The second of the terrible misses came courtesy of Tyrick Mitchell three minutes before half-time.

Daichi Kamada crossed across the box, and via a big deflection the ball found its way to Mitchell in a lot of space, who got good contact from three yards out.

It seemed destined to go in, but, instead, a truly brilliant stop from Alomerovic saw the Englishman denied.

It was at this point that a large groan came from the crowd, and it began to feel like ‘one of those nights’. Where, whatever Palace did, the ball would just not go in.

That feeling was truly solidified soon after the break when Ismaila Sarr missed a free header from two yards out. It was a brilliant cross from record-signing Brennan Johnson on the right, and somehow Sarr, who has scored 13 goals this season, was left unmarked in the middle.

But he completely fluffed the header. As did Chris Richards, again from a Johnson delivery, 15 minutes later.

It is absolutely no exaggeration to say Palace could, and should have won this game 4-0. Instead they go to Cyprus with the tie level at 0-0 on aggregate.

Individual players missed good chances, but Glasner also seemed too afraid to make changes when he should have.

Mateta was his first substitution in the game, and came on in the 77th minute. Pino was the second, and was introduced in the 87th minute.

It was simply too little, too late. And now Palace will have to hope they are not punished for their dissipation.