Ten-man Lions shoot themselves in the foot to make it so easy for quarter-final bound Eagles
FA Cup 5th Round
Crystal Palace (2) 3 Tanganga og 34, Munoz 40, Nketiah 81
Millwall (1) 1 Harding 45+13 Roberts s/o 8
If you are going to have any chance of causing an FA Cup upset as a Championship side visiting a Premier League outfit, the last thing you need is to have a man sent off with the game only minutes old.
Millwall contrived to make their mission nigh-on impossible after keeper Liam Roberts was dismissed only eight minutes in - the incident instantly threatening to suck the life out of a tie that had kicked off against the powder-keg backdrop of a febrile South London derby atmosphere.
Roberts was deservedly sent off for a reckless high boot on Jean-Philippe Mateta that saw the striker stretchered off with a head injury.
In real time, ref Michael Oliver might have called it, but VAR intervened in any case to ensure justice was done. It was the craziest of challenges that fully merited the straight red it got.
Lions fans gave it the 'F... VAR' treatment, but those chants seemed half hearted. They will have known deep down it warranted a red and that their big day was already ruined.
The hope for Oliver Glasner and the Eagles must be that Mateta is not too seriously hurt, long term. The striker required lengthy attention after receiving the fearful blow he took. There were 13 minutes of injury time at the end of the half.
Mateta - who scored the winner when these two sides last met three years ago at the Den in this competition - has been in fine form and it would be bitter blow for Palace to lose him for the run-in, which has promised to be as upbeat as last season's.
Eddie Nketiah, who bagged his first Premier League goal for Palace in the midweek rout of Villa, came on for the stricken Mateta. Luke Cundle was sacrificed to allow Lukas Jensen to take over in goal for the Lions.
Palace now had space and time aplenty to get the job done and Nketiah was soon putting the ball in the net (disallowed for handball) and testing Jensen with a shot on the turn from a Daniel Munoz cross.
Eberechi Eze forced the keeper into a save with Munoz having his follow-up blocked by Joe Bryan. Jensen's outstretched foot thwarted Ben Chilwell as the defender ghosted into the box for a clear shot at goal.
It was only a matter of time and in the next attack, a drilled cross-shot from Will Hughes was headed into his own net by Japhet Tanganga, then Munoz poked home following a goalmouth scramble to make it 2-0. The Colombian was originally flagged offside but the ball came to him via two Millwall defenders.
The Lions struggled to get forward in numbers, understandably, and looked out of the picture, but the rarely-seen Wes Harding threw them a lifeline right at the end of the half, picking up the pieces after a scampering run in from the left from Femi Azeez had caused a rare moment of trouble in the Palace defence.
Matt Turner - given the nod in goal instead of Dean Henderson - made a save, but the ball ran loose for Harding to find the net with the aid of a slight deflection off Chilwell.
Millwall were glad to have a puncher's chance and they kept their interest alive until 10 minutes from the end when Nketiah sent a looping header in off a post to make the game safe - the goal following a floated free-kick from Eze that Chris Richards headed back towards the six-yard box.
No dramas then for the Eagles. They soar into the last eight with Wembley one step away and with every reason to believe a shot at the final is on the radar.
Eagles: (3-4-2-1) Turner - Richards, Lacroix, Guehi - Munoz (Clyne 90), Lerma (Devenny 90), Hughes (Wharton 65), Chilwell - Sarr (Esse 65), Eze (Franca 85) - Mateta (Nketiah 15)
Lions: (4-2-3-1) Roberts - Harding, Tanganga, Cooper, Bryan - De Norre (Honeyman 66), Mitchell (Saville 66) - Neghli (Bangura-Williams 33), Cundle (Jensen 15), Azeez (Emakhu 85) - Coburn (Ivanovic 66)
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