Under-21s suffer heavy defeat at Palace

Our Under-21s suffered their heaviest defeat of the season at Crystal Palace on Friday night, as the Eagles ran out 5-1 winners.

For the second Premier League 2 game in a row, our opponents' centre-forward bagged a hat-trick, Jemiah Umolu this time adding to his first-half opener with a quickfire double just after the break to put his side 4-1 up.

Hindolo Mustapha had earlier added his name to the scoresheet, while our only response came from Yusuf Akhamrich just after half-time - although it took Palace just a few seconds to hit back with Umolu completing his treble at the other end.

We produced some clever footwork in tight areas up front, but in reality we didn't test goalkeeper Jackson Izquierdo anywhere near enough and our misery was compounded when captain Sean Grehan added the Eagles' fifth with just under a quarter-of-an-hour left.

We almost stole ahead inside 35 seconds at the VBS Community Stadium in Sutton, Callum Olusesi's shot blocked after a useful raid down the right by Akhamrich, but the majority of the chances thereafter fell to Palace, Umolu's shot saved by Aaron Maguire and Cormac Austin's free-kick deflecting just wide before the hosts hit the front with 20 minutes gone, Zach Marsh sweeping a ball forward from the left flank for Umolu to run onto centrally and he took his shot early, pinging it into the bottom corner.

Finley Marjoram fired narrowly wide on a couple of occasions from the right flank for Palace while our best chance of the first period saw Rio Kyerematen steer a header towards goal after peeling away from his marker in the box just beyond the half-hour mark, but Izquierdo smothered it comfortably.

The Eagles' second goal originated from a similar area to their first, this time Joe Gibbard playing it low into the centre from the left side for Mustapha to latch onto before turning inside onto his left foot and slotting past Maguire with 40 minutes on the watch. And they needed a mere 10 seconds after half-time to make it three, defender Maeson King's flick intercepted by Umolu in our box with the striker shifting the ball onto his left foot before drilling home.

Four minutes later, Jaden Williams got to the byline and cut back for Akhamrich to fire through a crowded six-yard box at the near post and give us a lifeline, but any hopes of a comeback went up in smoke as dramatically as the fireworks display that was lighting up the night sky adjacent to the stadium as Palace went straight on the attack, Umolu drilling a low shot across Maguire and inside the post from 20 yards out to complete his hat-trick.

Maguire subsequently denied Marjoram and Austin and then made a great reaction stop on his line from Umolu after the last of a succession of Palace corners, only for Grehan to guide home Jesse Derry's cross with a neat finish on the next phase of play, bringing up his side's fifth goal with 76 minutes gone. Tyrese Hall, who had started the game as a false nine, and Olusesi were just off-target for us in the closing stages as we continued to play our passing game, but the hosts stood firm to claim a big win.

Match data

Goals: Crystal Palace - Umolu 20, 46, 50, Mustapha 40, Grehan 76; Spurs - Akhamrich 49.

Yellow cards: Crystal Palace - Marjoram 45, Holding 59.

Referee: Andrew Humphries.

Venue: VBS Community Stadium, Sutton.

Weather: Light cloud, light winds, 12 degrees.