Crystal Palace vs Stoke match report: Dwight Gayle scores twice as Palace comeback

Crystal Palace 2 Stoke City 1

(Getty)

Crystal Palace can continue their preparations for the FA Cup final having eliminated any possibility they might get drawn into the bottom three. Two second half goals from Dwight Gayle secured only a second win in 20 league games and strengthened the forward’s chances of facing Manchester United at Wembley in two weeks time.

Palace’s league form dipped dramatically following their victory over Stoke in mid-December. Now, having completed the double over Mark Hughes’ side who fell away badly after taking a first half lead through Charlie Adam, they can look forward to the possibility of ending the season on a high.

Gayle’s fortunes in particular are on the rise at exactly the right time. The forward – who was on the verge of joining Bristol City earlier in the season - recently signed a new contract that will keep him at the club until 2019 and his two goals took his season tally to seven, making him the club’s leading scorer on seven goals. Pardew is now set to follow the striker by signing the contract that had been agreed with the club’s board, but put on hold until safety had been guaranteed.

“Gayley has had a funny season,” said Pardew. “Injuries and our form in the first half of the season limited his game-time. Then we had a problem about whether he was going to stay or go Now He's put himself into contention.”

Addressing his own position, Pardew added: “It was agreed some time ago. But I know this football club. It was important status was secured for me to warrant a contract. Now it is I will happily sign it. There's been no question about me not signing it. If we'd gone down I'd have had to ask them if they wanted to do it, to be honest.”

Successive league defeats, combined with the resurgent form of Sunderland Newcastle United had ensured Palace’s work in the league was far from done and while a point was all they needed guarantee safety, even that looked a demanding task during the opening half.

Clearly anxious to draw a line under their lingering relegation fears, Palace started positively and could have had an eighth minute penalty had referee Kevin Friend not taken a lenient view of Phil Bardsley’s clumsy challenge on Dwight Gayle.

That, though, proved to be a rare moment of threat from Pardew’s side whose early confidence quickly evaporated once Stoke, and in particular Giannelli Imbula and Marko Arnautovic, began to find their stride.

Linking well behind Peter Crouch, the pair began to find holes in the centre of the Palace defence and combined to create the opening that allowed Adam to give Stoke a 25th minute lead. Arnautovic collected a pass from Imbula with his back to goal before turning to play into the path of Adam’s run as the Scotland international advanced into the area and slotted past Wayne Hennessey right-footed.

Pardew’s side looked like a team that has been on a five-month slide down the table, and there cause wasn’t helped when Yohan Cabaye was forced off at half-time after taking a blow to his ribs. Cabaye’s replacement, Joe Ledley, lasted only ten minutes before he too limped out of the game with an ankle problem, but by then Gayle had brought Palace back into the game.

Bolasie was the creator, running from deep towards the middle of the Stoke area and past three challenges before the ball broke for Gayle on the left who placed his shot beyond Jakob Haugaard.

Palace were transformed while Stoke looked like a side long assured of a mid-table finish. Jason Puncheon came close and Connor Wickham headed against a post before Gayle added his second in the 66th minute. Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross was penalised for a foul on Wickham 20 yards out allowing Gayle to curl the resulting free-kick around the defensive wall and inside Haugaard’s left hand post.

“We were 1-0 to the good and quite comfortable in the game, decent in terms of our shape, and we talked at length about Palace's reaction in the second half,” said Hughes, the Stoke manager. “We needed to be ready, but we were far from that and allowed them back straight into the game, with plenty of help from us.”

Crystal Palace (4-2-3-1): Hennessey 6; Ward 7, Dann 6, Delaney 6, Souare 7; McArthur 8, Cabaye 6 (Ledley 46 6, Mutch 54 6); Bolasie 8, Puncheon 7, Gayle 9 (Sako 89 6); Wickham 6.

Stoke (4-2-3-1): Haugaard 6; Bardsley 6, Shawcross 6, Cameron 6, Pieters 7; Whelan 5 (Krkic 73 6), Adam 6 (Ireland 62 5); Shaqiri 5 (Walters 62 6), Imbula 7, Arnautovic 8; Crouch 6.

Referee: Kevin Friend