Mick McCarthy tasted defeat for the first time as Town manager as Ian Holloway's Crystal Palace ran out comfortable 5-0 victors at Selhurst Park. Yannick Bolasie had put the home side ahead at half-time before an extraordinary 11 minutes early in the second half in which Palace were awarded three penalties, Murray scoring two and having one saved, the Eagles striker later adding his third and the Eagles' fourth before sub Andre Moritz made it five in injury time.

Andy Drury returned to the Town midfield in place of Guirane N’Daw. The Senegalese international, who was forced off with cramp late in the 1-0 victory at Birmingham on Saturday, was included amongst the subs.

Former Blues Damien Delaney and Owen Garvan were in the Palace starting line-up, while keeper Lewis Price and one-time Town academy schoolboy Stuart O'Keefe were on the bench.

Town, in all white, lined up in a 4-5-1 formation with Daryl Murphy moving to the left of midfield from the front role he occupied on Saturday.

The home side threatened to go in front in the opening minute, Yannick Bolasie breaking down the left and cutting in before being dispossessed by a retreating Lee Martin. The loose ball ran to Glenn Murray, who stabbed wide from eight yards when he will feel he should have scored.

Palace had started the game the stronger and on six appealed for a penalty when Murray went to ground inside the area under the attention of Danny Higginbotham but referee Darren Sheldrake wasn’t interested. Soon after, Norwegian full-back Jonathan Parr sent in a cross from the left which Stephen Henderson was forced to tip over.

The Blues started to keep the ball better as the game reached the quarter hour mark, although skipper Carlos Edwards had to use his pace to get back and take the ball from the lively Bolasie after the Congolese winger had been found in space on the left.

By the 20th minute it was Palace giving the ball away too easily and the Blues having most of the possession but without threatening Eagles keeper Julian Speroni.

However, it was the home side who would go in front in the 24th minute as Bolasie made the most of a Town error at the back.

Garvan flicked a header on towards Murray, who held his arms in the air and left it as he was well offside. Luke Chambers dawdled on the ball, not realising Bolasie was running in behind him from an onside position and the winger dispossessed him before lobbing over Henderson and into the net.

It was a bad goal for Town to concede and at the time came against the run of play with the Blues having been in the ascendant for the previous few minutes.

Kagisho Dikgacoi got his name in referee Sheldrake’s book for a somewhat wild lunge at Aaron Cresswell in the 32nd minute. Soon after, Murray had the ball in the net, but having been found when in an offside position by a deflected Garvan shot.

DJ Campbell shot low to Speroni from 20 yards with the Blues still to seriously test the Argentinian goalkeeper.

On 37 Cresswell whipped in a dangerous cross from the left which Parr was forced to divert away from Martin rushing in from the right, Speroni tipping the ball over. Martin and the keeper subsequently collided but referee Sheldrake was happy with the challenge and awarded a corner, which came to nothing.

Two minutes before the scheduled end of the half, a Martin corner was cleared to Richie Wellens 25 yards out but the on-loan Leicester man mis-hit his strike well wide when he ought to have done better.

For Palace, goalscorer Bolasie twisted and turned his way past Edwards on the right of the Blues’ box as the period moved into injury time before hitting a low shot from a tight angle which Henderson bundled behind, although referee Sheldrake gave a goalkick.

Town couldn’t really argue with the scoreline at the break. Despite having been on top for spells, the home side had played more of the better football and had created pretty much all of the chances.

The goal was a gift of the type which has become all too familiar and which Mick McCarthy will be hoping to eliminate from Town’s game during his time in charge.

Martin saw an early shot blocked, but it took only five minutes of the second period for the home side to increase their lead from the penalty spot.

Wilfried Zaha, who had swapped flanks with Bolasie, cut in from the left and broke into the area, skipping past players as he went. Chambers challenged, Zaha went to ground and referee Sheldrake pointed to the spot.

Chambers and the rest of the Town players argued long and hard, the Blues defender may have got the ball and the winger may have been on his way down prior to the tackle. Reo-Coker picked up a yellow card for his protests before Murray slammed the ball high into the net to Henderson’s left to make it 2-0.

Within five minutes the Eagles had a second penalty. Parr whipped a cross in from the left towards Garvan at the far post. The former Blues midfielder was manhandled by Cresswell and fell to the turf, although how much the contact with the full-back had to do with that was debatable.

However, the linesman flagged and Mr Sheldrake again pointed to the spot. Murray this time shot low to Henderson’s left to make it 3-0.

Town looked to get back in the game, Campbell shooting weakly Speroni, then Higginbotham forced the Argentinian into a rare save to his left with a well-struck shot after a corner had reached him beyond the far post.

Unbelievably, the Eagles were then awarded their third spotkick in 11 minutes. Henderson dived at Murray’s feet as the striker broke into the area, then Garvan following up was tripped by the ponderous Chambers. This time Murray lashed the ball down the centre of the goal and the Blues keeper blocked.

But the ex-Brighton man wasn’t to be denied his hat-trick. On 63 one-time Blues target Joel Ward broke unchallenged down the Palace right and crossed low for Murray, who tapped home from close range.

Palace sub Andre Moritz, who had replaced hat-trick hero Murray who had been given an inevitable standing ovation, headed Bolasie’s left-wing cross over on 70, moments before Drury and Murphy made way for Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, who joined Campbell up front, and Tommy Smith, who went to left-back with Cresswell moving up into midfield.

Cresswell lashed over as the game moved into its final quarter hour with Town looking very much a beaten side. Moments later, a frustrated Martin was booked for dissent.

Moritz curled a shot wide as the match entered its final 10 minutes, then Zaha was booked for stopping the ball from going out of play with his hand, park match style. Wellens, who had been receiving treatment for a cut, was replaced by Guirane N’Daw for the final nine minutes.

Henderson saved as Jermaine Easter went through on goal in the 90th minute, while the Blues kept pushing at the other end but with little conviction and with Speroni never really under any threat. Late on, Delaney cut out a low Cresswell cross from the left ahead of Campbell.

Four minutes into injury time, the final nail was hammered into Town’s coffin when Palace broke from a Blues’ corner and Parr and Moritz exchanged passes before the Brazilian netted from close range, although having appeared to stray offside. Moments later, the whistle put the Blues out of their misery.

Town never recovered from the remarkable start to the second half. While the Blues had been on top at times before the break, Palace, who are now top, were dominant in the second.

The Town players may have felt there was some question about the first two penalties but the home side had already turned up the heat at that stage with Zaha looking increasingly dangerous.

There were few complaints about the third penalty with the Blues’ backline again overstretched, while Ward was allowed to skip past three Town shirts before delivering the cross for the fourth goal. The fifth came with Town searching in vain for something at the other end.

After the positivity of Saturday, tonight’s result is a jolt back to reality and shows new manager McCarthy quite how much work he has to do.

Crystal Palace: Speroni, Ward, Ramage, Delaney, Parr, Dikgacoi, Jedinak (c), Bolasie, Garvan (Easter 69), Zaha (Moxey 88), Murray (Moritz 69). Unused: Price, Blake, O'Keefe, Appiah.

Town: Henderson, Edwards (c), Chambers, Higginbotham, Cresswell, Martin, Reo-Coker, Drury (Emmanuel-Thomas 70), Wellens (N'Daw 81), Murphy (Smith 70), Campbell. Unused: Loach, Mohsni, Scotland, Chopra. Referee: Darren Sheldrake (Surrey). Att: 15,517 (Town: 1,261).

Photo: Action Images

Ravenblue52 added 23:07 - Nov 6 Question, When was the last time anyone saw three penalties given away in a match? Im so bummed out!
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eastcoastblue added 23:11 - Nov 6 I really feel for the travelling fans tonight. That was a complete embarrassment. Do any of our players know the phrase 'pass and move' obviously not! Lee martin - last season against west ham you were outstanding, today you offered nothing, made no runs and barely broke into a fast jog. What a shame. Reo coker - you can leave the centre circle if you want? So unfit its appalling and even less desire and/or creativity please get fit on someone elses money and for gods sake let luke hyam show this shower what being blue is about! Carlos - any chance of giving your man less than 10 yards of space? Trust me it will make your life easier. Dj - thanks for being the only one to put any effort in. Mick - please dont expect anything from reo coker he is not what you are hoping he is. Also please note that dj cannot hold the ball up on his own he plays off players. Playing him alone upfront is hopeful at best. If you want that player put scotland on. I have real feels for this great club and only hope that mm can sort it out. I certainly think giving some of the younger more hungry players a chance and making an example of the others would maybe give them a kick up the arse.

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chorltonskylineblue added 23:13 - Nov 6 So what was different from Saturday? Well, unlike Brum, Palace play attacking football with a relatively stable team and obvious confidence. So none of us should have expected miracles. Mick has been in charge for what, 3-4 days? Yes, it's a massive task and the stats don't look good for us - very poor goal difference, 11 goals in 15 league games, our top scoring striker (last season) up in front of the horse racing beaks in January, etc, etc. There's a lot of talk on here about Delaney, rightly so. The Championship is full of so and so players like him. What makes them table topping players? Well run clubs from, top to bottom, with managers who can build a team. I'm old enough to have witnessed Burley build a cracking team, but over a long period, where all aspects of the club appeared to be run well. We're a long way from those days, but give Mick time. He has the credentials to rebuild the team. But I agree with his honesty in saying if we finish one place above the relegation zone on the last day of the season it will be an achievement.

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mawwam added 23:18 - Nov 6 Doesn't matter who our manager is, the team we have simply cannot defend anything... and if clegg has anything to do with MM's targets same as PJ's then nothing will change!!
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Ravenblue52 added 23:20 - Nov 6 Also the wages should be taken away and injected into the youth squad. I dont even know if that can be done but sounds like a good idea.
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PinstripeBlue added 23:22 - Nov 6 We didn't look like scoring, we didn't look like we could stop them scoring. Very very poor. Sad to say we couldn't get any worse. Come on MM give us some idea of how to play.
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algarvefan added 23:22 - Nov 6 Come on guys lets be honest , did you expect things to turn a round so quickly? This side is the side Jewell would as near as damn it have picked! MM has only been at work for a matter of days and it's not long enough to get a complete picture. Tonights defeat could be one of the best things to happen to Town in a long while. We have to give Mick time and some time too......this won't be put right overnight, nor will it be solved by purely splashing cash. I would imagine Mick will be thinking of wholesale changes and getting the defence tight has to be his first thought. Deep breath guys, it's going to be a long hard road, but NOT supporting the team is NOT the way forward as some have suggested. Rome wasn't built in a day!!!!

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blueash78 added 23:23 - Nov 6 As I said when pj left, "unless clegg follows things will not change". We can refer to our town as a great club but I'm afraid after years of tearing it apart then we're purely talking history rather then the present. Believe me it pains me to say it but all the things that built our club up from a humble position have been replaced with quick fix, money splashing, nonsensical decision making. This is going to take more then a motivating manager to turn around the damage done. Get MM some footballing, blue blooded support, not Clegg. It's not personal, it's the solution. Look for a common thread to the deterioration of the club, and it goes further then players and managers. You can't keep blaming everyone else Mr C. Once upon a time we had a youth set up that regularly provided players that were gradually introduced to the first team and became our favourites. Ask yourselves, surely before 8 loanees we would expect at least one or two players to step in as replacements from the clubs younger teams. Unless things change radically then please for your own sake keep your expectations. low!

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Walk_the_Wark added 23:25 - Nov 6 Told you we should have got Holloway..... !!! We are better on paper than Palace. 3 more years of dross ..sigh...
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walberswick added 23:25 - Nov 6 onw wheel om my wagon....... should have paid out for holloway.
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barneyblue added 23:34 - Nov 6 It was poor tonight and embarrassing. We never looked like scoring and the defending was shocking - it could have been 7 or 8 easily. We kept the ball well in parts especially in the first half but mostly sideways and back. An unbelievable 3 pens against in 10 minutes early in the second half did for us. Keep the faith MM has a good record in the championship.
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TheHighwayman added 23:36 - Nov 6 ITFC is a disaster, a fiasco, a mess from top to bottom. 'Can we play you every week' sang the Palace fans. When they weren't laughing. No player in white is worth mentioning. These men as a group (not a team) were disconnected, slow, ponderous, easily beaten to the ball, talentless, lazy, unthinking. And all of this hopelessness was emphasised by the fast, skilful, eager Eagles. Forget McCarthy. He's too old for the job. Give him a flat cap and let him disappear into Last Of The Summer Wine. The cause of every ill at PR is the invisible man. Vote him and his poodle out urgently.

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boxdropper added 23:47 - Nov 6 Jan transfer window is probably going to be make or break .. But who are we looking at ??.. Plenty of well founded criticisms on here about prev Managers and Mick hasn't had a chance yet .. Apart from learning the size of the task .. Presumably the previous top Management had advice from Scouts apart from selecting those who were prepared to come to ITFC .. If so the current Scouts are as bad as Management and Clegg comes over with no personality and behind it all an owner who prefers to remain in the shadows.. Why is Evans in football .. Apart from gaining publicity for his other interests.. There is a bigger problem at our Club than just players or past Management.. Starting with Scouting there is an excellent Scout who lives just up the road from the Club .. Former Ajax player ... Lives thinks eats and drinks football ... Currently struggling at Blackburn ( bigger problems than us ) .. He is 1 of the type I think we need.. Who will live or die for ITFC.. CEO .. Clegg, either get off your high horse and get amongst it keeping Supporters on board and getting the right assistance for Mick but keep right out of team selection etc or accept your responsibility for past dire Management, crowd reduction, loss of good players .. And resign.... Evans .. When you find the courage to get on the pitch and do a Delia .. We may start to think you even like football.. More than your one and only 'I'm playing golf picture' Sorry to all true Blues for mentioning Delia but right or wrong she's proud to wear that scarf even if it's the wrong colours ... Please tell me .. Apart from .Mick ... Who the hell have we got amongst our front line players and top management/owner who will fight to the death to get us up the league let alone into Premier... We have got good talkers and Senior people getting players out of their own made hotspots ..sorry .. Bit of a personal riff but . Don't just change the players !!!

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gilo1973 added 00:04 - Nov 7 None of you could have been at the game because if you were you would have known that the scoreline was down to the officials - i watch a lot of non-league games and the refs are awful but this lot were even worse. For the 2nd pen the ref was next to the incident and said no pen but changed his mind due to the lino who was 20 yards away! 4 of the goals were dubious
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bluemikey100 added 00:17 - Nov 7 oh well mick to sort it out murray hatrick wasnt he the player we wudnt sign froim derby too much money cos injured he looked ok tonight it be austin sat for burnley my glass is always half full we cud be in league 1 at least we in championship as the longest serving team for 16 years althou beginning to worry now
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Tractastic added 00:37 - Nov 7 McCarthy is no magician and to think he could turn this team around in two games is unreasonable. Most of us would have taken 3 points out of 2 away games and now with home games coming up i still feel very positive. Ok this result isn't great for our goal difference but Mick needs to know how poor our backline is asap and tonight he got it!! The last two managers haven't sorted this so hopefully Mick will sort the defence out as until he does we are going to leak goals. Big game this Saturday but totally believe in the new management.COYB.

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Guthrum added 01:44 - Nov 7 Bottom team thrashed by currently flying, top-of-the-division team. But so far we've collected three points from six in the McCarthy era. Do that for the rest of the season and we'll be comfortably safe (17th place, on average, during the last 10 seasons). We may as well forget goal difference, it's already too badly wrecked to be a factor. Big defeats are no worse than narrow ones in the final analysis come May.

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muccletonjoe added 05:32 - Nov 7 Suprise suprise playing the same team as jewel produces same results as jewel , i thought mc carthy was here to rectify jewels mistakes not repeat them , next team needs to be alt less reliant on loan players , if he is a good manager he needs to show it imo
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karls_dad added 06:45 - Nov 7 Three penalties in eleven minutes! Now that has to be some kind of a record? I really did not expect anything out of tonite, another thumping, yes we will get a few more yet, but on the bright side we have a top class manager in Mick, an owner that will back him where needed in January, and more than a few players which will be leaving ITFC very shortly, Do not despair quite yet all is not lost, We have time on our side and this season will be a damage limitaion one, as MM has said if we finish one point above the bottom three he will be happy , and so should we, we are in this position due to Keane and Jewell together, a hard lesson learnt by us all!

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brendenward35 added 07:05 - Nov 7 Come on folks lets get realistic for once. How many of you started a new job with loads of staff and new everyone by first name in the first week let alone how they work and there personal life's. Doubt any of you did and why shouldn't that be the same for Mick and Terry? Going to take a few weeks for this to settle down and for Mick & Terry to get to know the players and the squad available. Neither of them are fools both been around in football for a long time. Trust me dressing room would have been full of fireworks last night and I'm sure the majority of the team would have had a rocket stuck up their backside after last nights performance. Give Mick time and I'm sure he will turn this round he has a history of playing youngsters so let wait and see what happens Saturday.

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karls_dad added 07:14 - Nov 7 Sitting here reading my previous post a few thoughts enter this old head! I wonder how many of us after a hard days work actually sit back and reflect on our day? the problems we all have had, how we have resolved them etc, which brings me to this! Do our priveliged superstars actually care? they would have returned to PR around midnight to one am last night, ambled off to the car park, climbed into the old range rover vogue etc, now i wonder do they just turn the key? would they spend a fleeting moment to think on their own personal performance, would they give a thought to the 1200 ish loyal faithful supporters that after a days work managed to get to south east London and give their support to them, only to return about the same time, and in just a few hours will be off to work, while they lay in bed? My point being that these so called proffessional footballers have a very wonderful life, they are pampered, paid way too much money, and rarely give a toss, Big Mick had to instuct them at St Andrews to go and thank the faithful, now just how wrong is that? I have faith in MM, i really do! but until we can get the actual players to have pride in the badge, to be ITFC supporters themselve, we really are going to struggle. I

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AndrewPC added 07:31 - Nov 7 Followingthe radio match commentary it was ominous when, towards the end of the first half, Zaha switched wings and attacked Edwards. My suspicion is that that was under Ian Holloway's instructions. The rest is history. The take away for MM ? Will be intersting to see the line up for Saturday, but before too long I would expect to see Edwrds moved out from the RB position and put on right midfield. DJ Campell cannot be left to play alone up front. Town must start scoring goals. Reo Cocker is not sufficiently fit for 90 minutes in a central midfield position. That said, Mick Mills' half tme summary included the view that RC, Wellens and drury were wining the midfield battle 3 penalties in 11 minutes is extraordinary but questioning the officials' decisions does not get to the root cause: the fragility of our defending when put under pressure. Has this last episode cracked definitively our players already fragile confidence ? MM is now going to have to earn his money. I cannot see him lasting long with the current squad. Ring the changes please Mick

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eastcoastblue added 07:58 - Nov 7 Are tge stats right? Was rc really voted mom ladt night?!? Wtf!!! Who that voted watched him? Unfit passed the ball from side to side and laughably missed an uncontested header i mean that was village football at best. It worries me that mick was always talking to him at the break expecting him to change things.... Leadership works by example nigel so pull your finger out! Also i thought chambers was probably our best player ok there was confusion over the first goal (returning palace player basically blocked him) but he cane for his headers pressured the attack and mopped up well in general - i have seen far far worse!!! Also note to carlos - first lesson in defending - dont let the ball bounce!!!!

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Jimmyonthewing added 08:28 - Nov 7 Couple of minutes late back to my seat after the interval and so just in time to see the first penalty conceded. Until then I thought we had a chance of turning it round as we played some quite decent passing football in patches during first half. Knew the game was up as soon as the pen went in for 2-0. I lived in the Crystal Palace area for 20 odd years so plenty of family and friends to rub it in "we could be two divisions apart next season". I don't think so - Mick get kicking some fat lazy as**s and we'll get out of this.

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blockb_steward added 08:30 - Nov 7 Sadly, this result was not unexpected but it would have been nice to keep the score down a bit. Saturday will be an interesting game, Burnley will not be a walk in the park - let's just hope a certain centre forward has a bad day. Time for those that are going to stay to stand up and be counted - they must know that Big Mick will make changes when the transfer market opens. Keep the faith...COYB

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