Strasbourg 2-1 Crystal Palace: Eagles blow lead as Conference League struggles continue | OneFootball

South Londoners’ inconsistencies on the continent continue

Crystal Palace sank to their second defeat in four Conference League games as Strasbourg came from behind to secure a 2-1 win at the Stade de la Meinau.

Strasbourg, fielding a starting XI with an average age of just 21 years old, surged forward early on, their pace in transition creating early chances for Samir El Mourabet and Sebastian Nanasi.

Palace have not had things all their own way during a Conference League campaign many expected them to coast through, and they were given plenty to think about by Liam Rosenior’s side in the opening half hour.

The Eagles, though, as they have throughout this season, kept their cool, regrouped and went direct to try and trouble Strasbourg’s young defence.

Jean Philippe-Mateta’s physicality had given the south Londoners something of a foothold in the game, a beacon through the flares and the smoke that encased the Stade de la Meinau in the opening 45 minutes, and he wrestled off the attention of Lucas Hogsberg to find Tyrick Mitchell, who fired low into the far corner.

It was a lead the visitors scarcely deserved and yet one they could so quickly have doubled when Ismaila Sarr hit the post with the goal gaping.

Mateta had been the first to try to catch out Strasbourg goalkeeper and Chelsea loanee Mike Penders for straying far from his goal line with an ambitious chipped shot after seven minutes.

Sarr, though, simply had to score as he took the ball around Penders, only to fire his long-range shot off the inside of the post.

Palace had kept four clean sheets in their last five games before arriving in Alsace; their solidity is the foundation of their success this season - this was just the second time they had conceded multiple goals in a game.

However, in Europe, they have found clean sheets harder to come by, and Strasbourg hit back soon after the restart through Chelsea-bound striker Emanuel Emegha.

Booed by small portions of the home support for his perceived disloyalty before kick-off, the Strasbourg captain lapped up the celebrations as he pulled the hosts level. Football can be a fickle old game.

Strasbourg deserved their goal, but their naivety, namely that of Penders, nearly cost them again as he gifted possession to substitute Adam Wharton, who became the second Palace player to hit the woodwork with an open goal at his mercy.

How Palace will curse their luck. Twice denied by the woodwork, they would concede in a bitterly cruel fashion as academy graduate and poster boy, El Mourabet, reacted quickest after Julio Enciso’s free-kick came back off the post.

Palace can have no complaints about the result, but somehow will come away wondering just how they did not manage to extend their unbeaten run in all competitions to six games.

Oliver Glasner’s side had guilt-edged chances, but gifted too many openings of their own.

Two wins and two defeats from their opening four league phase games puts Palace in a precarious position; automatic qualification for the knockouts is by no means a guarantee.

Panic, though, is not in Palace’s mantra. Their last defeat in the Conference League was the springboard from which they launched their latest unbeaten run.