Palace Wins Through To Play-off Final

A ten-men Crystal Palace secured their place in the First Division play-off final in dramatic circumstances, after scoring deep in injury time to send the game into extra time and win a tense penalty shoot-out 5-4 over Sunderland.

A ten-men Crystal Palace secured their place in the First Division play-off final in dramatic circumstances, after scoring deep in injury time to send the game into extra time and win a tense penalty shoot-out 5-4 over Sunderland. The game looked lost for Palace late in normal time after Julian Gray was sent off in the 86th minute and his side down 2-0 and 4-3 on aggregate.   However Palace would not give up and substitute Darren Powell scored with a header at the far post to send the game into extra time.   This spurred Palace on and they looked the better side in extra time despite their numerical disadvantage, although they were happy to settle for penalty kicks.   In the penalty shootout, which included Socceroo defender Tony Popovic (pictured above), Michael Hughes struck the winning sudden-death penalty after Palace keeper Nico Vaesen had saved Jeff Whitley-s kick.   Having dominated the first half, Palace suffered a double-whammy just before half time, when first Kevin Kyle scored in the 42nd minute and then Marcus Stewart sent a header past Vaesen in first half injury time. Palace will meet the winner of today-s match between West Ham and Ipswich at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on May 29, which is likely to rule the Socceroo defender out of the Oceania Nations Cup that starts in Adelaide on the same day.