Rob Street praises Crystal Palace fans for their support in U23 play-off semi-final win over Wolves

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

Rob Street praised the Crystal Palace fans inside Selhurst Park on Monday night as he helped guide his side to a 3-2 extra time win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the U23 Premier League 2 Division 2 play-off semi-final.

More than 1,000 fans were at the game following government restrictions being relaxed in England and the 19-year-old striker was in no doubt about the difference they made.

“It’s absolutely brilliant, there’s no better feeling, no better sound,” Street told the South London Press about the noise coming from the Holmesdale Lower throughout all 120 minutes. “I mean, you can make the crowd noise and you can make all this background noise for TV, but nothing beats the actual noise of people. They gave us that energy to go and win the game in extra time.”

The win came courtesy of a 100th-minute winner from substitute and U18 player David Omilabu, who powered home from close range after being set up by Street in the box.

The result means Palace will now face Sunderland in the final next week at home with the winners promoted to the Premier League 2 Division 1 a league which features Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool.

“David’s a goalscorer,” said Street about Omilabu, who topped the U18 Premier League South scoring charts this season.

“There’s nothing of him; he’s little, but he’s so sharp in and around the box – he gets goals and he’s going to make a career for himself out of doing that because his stats are so good.

“He’s played it out to me and I’ve got my head up,” added Street about his assist for the winner. “I’ve seen him dart in between two centre-halves and I thought if I can feed him in the box, he scores goals, so I’ve just done that.”

The win came after the Eagles had gone into the break 2-0 up thanks to Street’s seventh-minute header from a Sion Spence corner, and a piece of skill from big defender Jay Rich-Baghuelou in the 36th minute, dragging a loose ball back on the edge of box to leave a Wolves defender prone on the floor before slotting home from distance.

But after the Palace defence had held firm in the opening 45 minutes thanks to some impressive saves from goalkeeper Oliver Webber, Wolves came back in the second half to draw level thanks to two curling strikes from Theo Corbeanu. But Omilabu came in the 82nd minute as a substitute to grab the winner in extra time – testament to the sheer will from the Eagles, according to Street.

“Everyone was outstanding tonight I don’t think anyone was below 9/10 or 10/10,” said the forward, who was on loan at Torquay earlier this season. “Everyone put in an absolute shift. We knew we had to do that if we wanted to win, wanted to play in the final and wanted to get promoted.

“I’m very tired – it was a tough one, but we dug in deep, gave it our all and got the win. That was all that matters.

“First half, arguably, they were probably the better team. They dominated the ball and kept it moving but we had to dig in deep. We hit them with to set pieces and beat them that way.

“Spence is a great player, he’s got great passes, great deliveries and crosses. If you get yourself into areas it will fall to you and [Rich-Baghuelou] he has got that quality to be fair, he’s a good player and can do things like that.

“We knew they were going to come at us and we did weather the storm for a bit. It was frustrating to concede two goals but we knew we had to stay in the game and that’s where our fight and desire comes in to get back in the lead.

“[The manager Shaun Derry] said he’s so proud of us and he’s over the moon for us. He’s delighted. But we’ve got to go again in the next round. Sunderland will be a fight, it’ll be a battle again but we’re up for that and [my message to fans is] ‘come again, we need you’.”

PICTURES: PPAUK for CPFC