Crystal Palace promoted to Premier League after Phillips sinks Watford

Posted Tuesday, May 28, 2013 by theguardian.com

Championship

C Palace 1 Kevin Phillips 105 +0:41 Pen
Watford 0

For Kevin Phillips, just like Wilfried Zaha, this might have been his final act as a Crystal Palace player. In which case it was not a bad way to sign off. Palace are back in the Premier League after an eight-year absence and it is just a shame for them Phillips has so many miles on the clock and they cannot take Zaha along for the ride.

Ian Holloway joked that he would continue signing Phillips, currently on loan from Blackpool, into his 50s and 60s if he still had the knack of finding the back of the goal. He also mentioned it "might be possible" to arrange a loan with Manchester United to take Zaha back next season. But then he thought about it some more and concluded it would be "silly" for David Moyes to sanction it. Zaha, he said, had been "unplayable".

The 20-year-old had tormented Watford's defenders with the speed, directness and penetrative qualities that reaffirmed why United have already spent £15m to recruit him for next season. He was the outstanding player on the pitch and, in the end, it was he who forced the mistake that presented Phillips with the penalty that won this game in extra time.

Crystal Palace promoted to Premier League after Phillips sinks Watford
Crystal Palace's Kevin Phillips scores the winner from the penalty spot against Watford

Marco Cassetti just could not keep up, clipping Zaha's heel as the younger, quicker man tried to get round his outside. "A moment of genius," Holloway described it as, and a manager is entitled to a touch of exaggeration when one of his players has worn down the opposition. Phillips, two months short of turning 40, buried the spot-kick in the manner of someone immune to the pressures of the business. Holloway made a good point when asked about the huge financial rewards attached to this game. The hordes of Palace supporters, he said, were celebrating the glory of promotion, not the extra millions into the bank account. Though it will help, undoubtedly, for what comes next.

His team had been subjected to some intense pressure during the final moments and the game would have gone to penalties but for a brilliant goalline clearance from Joel Ward after Fernando Forestieri had curled a shot with the outside of his boot past Julián Speroni.

The late onslaught was the only spell in the entire match when Watford had attacked with any real momentum. Their passing game lacked its usual refinement and they were hampered by an injury to Matej Vydra that meant their leading scorer hobbled through much of the first half and did not come back out after the interval. That was always going to be a considerable setback. It does not fully explain, however, why they were distinctly second best to the team who finished seven points behind them in the Championship.

Their manager, Gianfranco Zola, was honest in his assessment, acknowledging that Palace had been considerably the better side. Manuel Almunia, Watford's goalkeeper, was their best performer and Holloway's team ought really to have spared the crowd the anxieties of extra time considering the number of chances they piled up once they realised, after a fairly wretched first half from both teams, the game was there for the taking.

All they lacked in this period was someone to finish off one of their chances in the absence of Glenn Murray, the scorer of 31 goals this season but on crutches here because of the knee injury he suffered in the play-off semi-final against Brighton. Aaron Wilbraham, his replacement, had at least four good chances but, without wishing to be cruel, here was the evidence why he has managed only one goal all season, going all the way back to August and a Capital One Cup tie against Preston North End.

He was clean through on goal for the first but, at 33, did not trust his own pace, checked back and the chance was wasted. Soon afterwards he had an even better opportunity when a loose ball went through the legs of Daniel Pudil, defending a corner, and was suddenly at his feet inside the six-yard area. Almunia was quickly off his line to smother the shot and later denied him again.

Palace, who had to compensate for the early loss of Kagisho Dikgacoi to injury, had pinned their opponents back for long spells of the second half. Zaha, raw and unorthodox, often found two defenders doubling up on him. Still, he pressed forward, showing them the ball, then whipping it away. Phillips's arrival as a second-half substitute, against the club where he began his professional career, also gave them a new spearhead. Yet their failure to take one of those chances might have been costly if Speroni had not saved bravely at Troy Deeney's feet two minutes into the first spell of extra time.

Instead, Zaha's trickery and Cassetti's laboured challenge left it to a man who will overtake Ryan Giggs as the oldest outfield player in the Premier League if his loan arrangement is made permanent in the summer.

Palace, one suspects, may need to think more ambitiously and the final whistle had barely gone before one bookmaker had them as favourites to go straight back down. Equally, Holloway might point out there were similar odds being offered this time last year for Southampton and West Ham. Yet Palace will miss Zaha, a star in the making, and those chants of "He's just too good for you".