Lacroix, Sarr guide Crystal Palace to down AZ Alkamaar in Conference League

London, Nov 7 (IANS) Crystal Palace rediscovered their goalscoring form after a blank against AEK Larnaca last time out, securing a first league phase home win, beating AZ Alkamaar 3-1 on Matchday 2 of UEFA Conference League.

Maxence Lacroix and Ismaila Sarr struck in the first half after AZ keeper Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro had saved a Jean-Philippe Mateta penalty and denied Sarr from close range. Sven Mijnans halved the lead, but Sarr finished a defence-splitting Mateta pass to secure three points and leave AZ with just one win from three games.

Lacroix said that the previous defeat to AEK Larnaca had inspired Palace to fight back against the Dutch side, who went into this season’s UEFA Conference League as one of the pre-tournament favourites with a storng track record in the competition.

But Lacroix’s fine snap-shot finish in the first-half – Palace’s first-ever goal at Selhurst Park in a major European competition proper – was added to by Ismaila Sarr’s brace either side of half-time to send the SE25 Eagles home happy.

“We are really happy, really happy to get this win for them, and with how we played,” Lacroix told TNT Sports. “I think everyone loves to see goals here at Selhurst, so yeah, everyone is happy.

“We are really happy. The game we lost here [against Larnaca], it was a bit sad for us, but we said before the game that we want to give this win to them, to the fans, to everyone, and I think everyone deserves it – and this is what we did today.

“We are in a good way. We’ve won three games in a row, so we are really happy about that and we want to continue. We have the derby [against Brighton & Hove Albion] on Sunday, so I think it's going to be an important moment for us.”

--IANS

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