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The bad news for Oliver Glasner is that Crystal Palace’s marathon season is about to get even longer. A thrilling draw against Finnish side KuPS in their 27th game of the campaign means that they must now contest a two-leg playoff at the end of February after finishing outside the top eight in the Conference League table.
Having selected an entirely different starting lineup that included four teenagers from the side that lost to Manchester City at the weekend, Glasner saw his second string impress as Christantus Uche gave them a deserved lead at half-time.
But it needed a late equaliser from Justin Devenny to salvage a draw after they conceded two goals in the space of three minutes after the break, with the Northern Irishman and Eddie Nketiah coming closest to snatching the victory in stoppage time.
Palace will play either Bosnia’s Zrinjski or the Czech side Sigma Olomouc in the playoffs. The draw will be in January, and the away leg will at least give their supporters the chance to enjoy more adventures on their first European tour.
Having rescheduled their Carabao Cup quarter-final against Arsenal for next week, Glasner has made no excuses for prioritising their Premier League game against Leeds on Saturday given they have less than 48 hours to recover for the trip to Elland Road. That meant debuts for teenage defenders George King and Dean Benamar, while 16-year-old winger Joel Drakes-Thomas became the fourth youngest player in Palace’s history and certainly impressed.
KuPS, who began the night just outside the playoff spots and needing a victory to stay in contention, must have thought their luck was in when they saw the teamsheets. Managed by former Stockport and Hibernian midfielder Jarkko Wiss, their domestic season finished nearly two months ago when the team from the Finnish Lakeland city of Kuopio – that is twinned with Oldham – were crowned champions for a second year in succession.
They were backed by 800 travelling fans but sadly, Aki Riihilahti, one of Palace’s most-loved former players and now chief executive of HJK, KuPS’s big rivals from Helsinki, could not join them and had posted his apologies on social media earlier in the day.
But any thoughts KuPS had that Palace’s young side would simply roll over were dispelled inside the first five minutes. Uche started the move when he exchanged passes with Borna Sosa before deceiving his marker and effortlessly curling a shot into the far corner with the outside of his right foot. There were gasps when the goal was replayed on the big screen, such was its quality.
The Nigeria striker could have had more in the first half after Drakes-Thomas hustled the KuPS defence into a mistake, although there were a few worried faces on the Palace bench when he went down clutching his knee before being able to continue.
King, who plays for the Republic of Ireland’s Under-19s and has been a regular for Palace’s Under-21s this season, looked assured on the right of the back three, while Benamar was a lively presence down the left flank. Romain Esse went closest to extending Palace’s lead but screwed his shot wide before being booked for a crude tackle on Jaakko Oksanen that infuriated Glasner. Yet KuPS failed even to register a shot on target before the break while a clever backheel from Esse almost set up Uche for another chance.
Whatever Wiss said to his players at half-time clearly had the desired effect. A break instigated by Otto Ruoppi allowed Saku Savolainen to set up Piotr Parzyszek for the equaliser and they went ahead three minutes later when Ibrahim Cissé diverted a shot from Clinton Antwi past Walter Benítez. It could have been even worse for Palace had Parzyszek not seen another goal ruled out because Peterri Pennanen was offside in the buildup.
Glasner introduced Marc Guéhi, Tyrick Mitchell and Will Hughes from the bench in the 64th minute in a bid to change the momentum. But Palace still struggled to mount a response.
They were given a lifeline when Antwi was sent off for an awful studs-up challenge on Hughes that prompted the Israeli referee Yigal Frid to immediately brandish his red card. Devenny took advantage when he headed in Mitchell’s cross to set up a grandstand finale but they could not find a winner.
