Report: Palace 2-1 Wednesday

Wednesday tasted defeat for the first time this season as Crystal Palace bagged their first points of the campaign with a 2-1 win at Selhurst Park.

Glenn Murray made sure of a miserable start for the Owls with the opener inside a minute before adding a second seven minutes from time after Michail Antonio had levelled for the visitors.

The result brings to an end Dave Jones’s superb record of 19 games without defeat since taking charge at the club.

The Owls boss made two changes to the side that beat Millwall at Hillsborough last time out, with Daniel Jones coming in for Reda Johnson at left-back and Chris O’Grady being recalled to the starting eleven at the expense of Gary Madine.

There were no places for striker Jay Bothroyd or defender Martin Taylor, who both penned deals at Wednesday on transfer deadline line.

Wednesday’s start couldn’t have got much worse, however, when Murray fired a Palace side desperately looking for their first points of the season ahead after just 30 seconds.

Damien Delaney, one of Palace’s new recruits, was the provider as his low ball found Murray in the box and the former Brighton man made no mistake from close range to make it 1-0.

The Owls are made of strong stuff and they almost got an immediate response when Antonio forced a superb save from Eagles stopper Julian Speroni in a frantic opening.

Rodri also got the better of his man before sending a low shot just wide of goal as the Owls looked for a response, but chances were few and far between.

Other than picking the ball out of the net, Wednesday goalkeeper Chris Kirkland didn’t have a great deal to do.

The visitors will have gone in to the interval thinking they should have been on level terms, despite the relatively lacklustre opening 45 minutes. Miguel Llera came close to continuing his goal spree with a header that came back off the crossbar as the half drew to a close.

Half-Time: Palace 1-0 Wednesday

Jones’s men had finished the first half the stronger of the two sides and they started the second half in the same manner.

It resulted in the equaliser five minutes in and Llera was this time provider, curling in a corner kick that allowed Antonio to drill the ball into the back of the net at the back post to make it 1-1.

It gave Wednesday a big boost and they took the momentum.

Llera, who else, had Wednesday’s next chance when his free-kick caused Speroni problems but the Palace stopper diverted the danger to keep the scores level.

The Owls couldn’t find another goal for their efforts though, and could have found themselves behind with 15 minutes to go in a crucial moment of the game.

The referee initially pointed to the penalty spot for an alleged foul by Mark Beevers on Murray but, on consulting his assistant, reversed the decision to the dismay of the hosts.

Still, it changed the flow of the game to the hosts and they found the winner with seven minutes to go as Murray grabbed his second of the match to leave Wednesday defeated for the first time this season.

Danny Mayor came on to make his league debut for the Owls following his move from Preston, but his introduction couldn’t get Wednesday back on level terms for a second time.

Full-Time: Palace 2-1 Wednesday

Crystal Palace: Speroni, Parr, Bolasie (Williams 81), Garvan, Blake (Moxey 46), Jedinak, Zaha, Murray, Ramage, Moritz (Goodwillie 63), Delaney. Unused substitutes: Price, Ward, Dikgacoi, Wilbraham.

Wednesday: Kirkland, Buxton, Llera, Beevers, Jones, Antonio, Semedo, McCabe, J Johnson (Pecnik 77), O`Grady (Madine 61), Rodri (Mayor 83). Unused substitutes: Bywater, Mattock, Taylor, Corry.