Friendly: Palace 1 Sporting Lisbon 0

Last updated : 29 July 2004 By Nik Taylor

A crowd of around 6,000 saw a weakened Palace side overcome Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon in a match we could easily have lost.

Tony Popovic nabbed the winner for the Eagles in the second-half, heading home a corner from debutant Jonas Kolkka.

Although Sporting had the lion’s share of the possession throughout the game, they failed to take their chances – while Palace converted one of the few to come their way.

Kolkka’s assist capped a fine performance by the Finn, with fellow new boys Speroni and Boyce also putting in creditable performances.

Palace:
Speroni
Butterfield, Powell (Popovic 45), Boyce (Togwell 70), Borrowdale
Routledge (Williams 45), Watson (Riihilahti 67), Derry (Hughes 63), Kolkka
Black, Freedman (Soares 70)