Andrew Johnson was on target for Palace in last night’s friendly against FK Teplice, but could not prevent the Eagles slipping to a 2-1 defeat in a feisty encounter that saw both teams finish with ten men.
Palace started the game in Miesbach, Germany, with an experimental line-up that included Julian Speroni in goal – and the Eagles made the worst possible start by conceding after just four minutes.
Although things started to look up when a Teplice defender was sent off midway through the first half for a professional foul on Dougie Freedman, the one-man advantage was to be short-lived.
Just before the interval, Palace youngster Aaron Fray picked up his second yellow card and also headed in for an early bath.
So, 1-0 down at half time and wholesale changes were the order of the day. The entire first-half team, which included debutant Jobi McAnuff, was brought off and replaced.
That meant red-and-blue debuts for the other two of the summer’s purchases – Jon Macken and Darren Ward. Trialist Shaka Hislop also appeared in the Palace goal.
Six minutes into the second-half a familiar scene led to an Eagles equaliser, when Andrew Johnson was dragged down inside the penalty area and picked himself up to fire home from the spot for Palace.
However, parity lasted less then ten minutes. A dodgy backpass by Aussie Anthony Danze exposed Hislop to a one-on-one and the Teplice striker made no mistake to put the Czech side back in front.
Macken had the best chance to grab another equaliser for Palace, but the Teplice keeper recovered well to save after being rounded.
Palace’s next friendly is in Fussen on Saturday against Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt.