Palace held to frustrating home goalless drawpublished at 22:32 GMT 12 March
FT: Crystal Palace 0-0 Larnaca
Keifer MacDonald
BBC Sport
Crystal Palace were held to a frustrating goalless draw at home to AEK Larnaca in the first leg of their Uefa Conference League last-16 tie.
Last season’s FA Cup winners dominated with more than 70% possession and 13 shots but were unable to find the breakthrough.
In a first half that saw the Cypriot side – who appointed a new manager on Monday – fail to register a shot, Palace should have been ahead inside eight minutes when Evann Guessand was denied by Zlatan Alomerovic after connecting with Jorgen Strand Larsen’s delivery inside the area.
Palace continued to push for a breakthrough as Larsen and Ismaila Sarr both went close before Alomerovic produced his second stunning save of the night to deny defender Tyrick Mitchell at the back post.
The home side – who lost 1-0 to Larnaca in the league stage in October – encountered more of the same frustrations in the second half as they struggled to break down the visitors’ rigid, five-man defence.
Sarr and Chris Richards headed off target from a pair of wicked deliveries from January signing Brennan Johnson, before Palace brought on Jean-Philippe Mateta for the final 15 minutes.
On his first appearance for the club since a failed move to AC Milan in January, the France international was met with jeers from sections of the Palace fans inside Selhurst Park. But he almost turned those jeers to cheers, nearly poking Guessand’s cross home less than two minutes after his arrival.
The winners of the tie will face either Fiorentina or Poland’s Rakow Czestochowa with the Italian side leading 2-1 after the first leg in Florence.