‘Heavily dependant’ – Roy Hodgson reacts as Crystal Palace come from behind at Plymouth to book EFL Cup third round spot

Crystal Palace came back from 2-0 down to claim a 4-2 win over Plymouth Argyle and book their place in the third round of the EFL Cup.

Plymouth took the lead early on through Ben Waine as he fired past the Palace defence from close range.

The Eagles found themselves two behind in the 46th minute after Luke Cundle curled a stunning effort beyond Sam Johnstone.

Hodgson subbed on Jordan Ayew, Jeffrey Schlupp and Eberechi Eze in the 55th minute.

Following the changes, a goal from Odsonne Edouard and a second-half hat-trick from Jean-Philippe Mateta sealed Palace’s place in the next round.

“I didn’t enjoy the first half very much,” said the Palace boss.

“I thought they were very good throughout – they’re a good team. 

“Certainly in the first half, they deserved their lead at half-time. I don’t think we got anywhere near close enough for my liking to cause them problems and to look as though we were going to get that equalising goal.

“At half-time, we tried to galvanise the team a little bit. We thought with only one goal in it that we would play better in the second half. Then suddenly, we were two goals to nil down.

“It was a really good performance to come back from that. We have to thank the senior players – the ones who have been playing in the first team. They replaced some of the younger ones who hadn’t played for a while, and they enabled us to create those chances to score the goals.

“It was a cracking game of football – no doubt about that. 15,000-plus people at the game. Very few fouls. It was played in the right spirit and there was an awful lot of quality on the field of play today. 

“Lots of energy and intensity. I would like to say I was surprised with how good Plymouth were, but we weren’t as we studied them as best as we could before we played them. We knew they were very good. We made it clear to the players: ‘This is a good team you’re playing.’

“I know it’s easy to compliment teams when you win, but I like to think I would have been able to come here if we had lost and make the same comments as I have made.

“I’m happy we have won – I’m happy I don’t have to make those comments from a defeated point of view. But I also realise that we were heavily dependent on the real quality players we had tonight to pull us through.

“It didn’t look as though the team who started the game were going to be able to pull us through.”

Mateta became the first Palace player to score a hat-trick in a professional outing since Dwight Gayle’s three goals against Charlton in the EFL Cup in September 2015.

Hodgson added: “We know he can do that when he gets through with the goalkeeper and gets into those positions.

“We know he has that composure and the ability to strike the ball very well. I was very pleased with his and Eddy’s goal – getting across people at the near post and scoring from those crosses.

“I thought we were very dangerous from those crossing situations when we made those changes.

“I’m delighted for him [JP]. He’s waited a long time to get a real first-team opportunity from the start. Today he had it. I’m sure he will be knocking on my door tomorrow and telling me: ‘I told you how good I was.’