Premiership new boys share the spoils

Norwich 1 Crystal Palace 1

New boys Norwich and Crystal Palace both got off the mark in what is expected to be a long, hard Barclays Premiership campaign with a draw at Carrow Road.

Neither side have been given much hope of retaining their top-flight status come May, so today presented them both with a chance to open with a win against a team expected to be battling out alongside them at the bottom of the table.

Darren Huckerby caused Palace all sorts of problems with his pace early on and sent the home side into a 15th-minute lead, but after the restart it was Palace who stepped up a gear to secure a deserved share of the spoils through Andrew Johnson with 17 minutes left.

And while it is difficult to gauge the long-term prospects of either team after just one outing, with matches against some of the country’s best sides fast approaching, it may be some time before either gets another point on the board.

Huckerby’s pace almost saw the him burst clear from the halfway line inside five minutes, but he was eventually hustled out of possession.

Palace also looked to hit Norwich on the break and after seven minutes, summer signing Sandor Torghelle tried his luck from an acute angle on the edge of the box, but the shot drifted wide.

Norwich made the most of the spurned chance when they took the lead on 15 minutes.

Mathias Svensson picked up a lose ball just inside his own half before striding forward and dispatching what looked a hopeful pass into the right-hand channel.

Huckerby was onto it like a flash, shrugging off the challenge of Mark Hudson on the edge of the box in the process before taking one touch to compose himself and fire the ball past Julian Speroni, who was making his debut.

The Eagles rear guard were finding it difficult to cope with Huckerby’s attacking threat, and it was another surging run from the former Manchester City man which saw the ball laid back for Damien Francis to strike one from 25 yards, but a deflection took the pace off it and Speroni was untroubled.

Centre-back Simon Charlton, Norwich’s summer signing from Bolton, had a half chance when the ball fell to him 15 yards out following a corner from the left on 30 minutes, but his snapshot flew over.

Palace looked quite dangerous from set pieces, but despite some decent deliveries into the danger area, the visitors failed to trouble Robert Green in the Norwich goal.

Joonas Kolkka, another player making his debut for the Eagles, ballooned his effort high into the stands as the end of the first half approached, summing up Palace’s first 45 minutes back among the elite clubs of English football in six years.

Charlton made a mess of his jump as he went to clear a high ball on the edge of the box early in the second half.

Torghelle controlled the loose ball with his chest before blasting an angled drive at Green from six yards.

However, the Norwich ‘keeper, hoping for an England call-up next week, spread himself well and took the full force of the shot straight into his face to pull off a stunning reaction block, whether he knew much about it or not.

Danny Granville upended Mattias Jonson as the Sweden international looked to spin away just outside the the right-hand edge of the Palace penalty area and was cautioned for his troubles. The free-kick went deep to the back post, where Speroni collected comfortably.

On the hour Francis picked out Huckerby on the left with a wonderful sweeping cross-field pass. The Norwich striker ghosted past Emmerson Boyce before drilling the ball goalwards, and Speroni got down well to make the save.

Nigel Worthington, who earlier today signed a new contract with Norwich, made his first substitution on 63 minutes when Jonson was replaced by Paul McVeigh.

Wayne Routledge sent Kolkka into the area with a lovely ball inside the full-back, but Craig Fleming was on hand to intercept with a perfectly-timed sliding challenge.

On-loan Arsenal youngster David Bentley had failed to make a major impact on the game, and was replaced with 20 minutes left by Marc Edworthy as Worthington went with five at the back.

The tactical switch failed to have the desired effect, though, as Palace were level almost immediately.

On 72 minutes, Routledge broke clear 25 yards out and slid the ball through to Johnson, who collected it on his thigh and flicked it past Green into the far corner.

Leon McKenzie replaced Svensson in attack, and the diminutive striker had a half-chance fall his way instantly, but could not get enough on his header.

Speroni then plucked Huckerby’s acrobatic volley out of the air as Norwich went for the win, before Green pulled off a good close-range stop from Johnson in stoppage time.