Crystal Palace 4 Hull City 2 match report: Kevin Phillips sparkles but Palace have another gem in Jonny Williams

 
1/2
Gerard Brand6 March 2013

Crystal Palace 4-2 Hull City

Bringing Kevin Phillips to Selhurst Park in January seemed a masterstroke before the 39-year-old had even kicked a ball. Last night’s hat-trick in the 4-2 win over promotion-chasing Hull, his first start in a Crystal Palace shirt, confirmed what he can bring to a club eager to bypass the play-offs.

Phillips acted half his age throughout, with the kind of intelligent flicks you would expect to see from Wilfried Zaha. But goals are what he is known for and he feels at home at a side picking up form at the right time, the win leaving Palace just two points off second.

“The goals just convince me that I’m fit enough for the Championship,” said Phillips, who was quick to thank manager Ian Holloway. “I said last year at Blackpool that I needed a manager of his sort, someone who believes in me.

“He lets me do a lot of my training at home and he’s not afraid to pitch me in at a top of the Championship clash, that just shows he trusts me.”

Though Phillips grabbed the headlines for his nine-minute hat-trick, Palace know they have a gem in 19-year-old Jonathan Williams. The Welshman is as creative as he is commanding and gives Palace craft when often all that can be seen is the need for graft. His contribution for the first goal, a determined run and neat pass before Glenn Murray’s shot hit Jack Hobbs’ hand for a penalty, came from very little.

The midfielder has been tucked under the media gaze of Zaha but Phillips was comfortable in mentioning him in the same breath as the Manchester United-bound forward. “They’re excellent players, two fantastic talents, it’s a pleasure to watch them,” Phillips said. “They’re both grounded and I’m sure they’ll go on and forge great careers.”

Holloway has given Williams a full 90 minutes just once, in fact 120 minutes in the FA Cup replay at Stoke in January. He knows how to look after such a talent. “Jonny gets tight, he’s just learning to play in big games,” said Holloway. “But the kid is just outstanding, I have to nurture him through it.”

For Holloway, though, the goal is automatic promotion and there is even talk of snatching first place.

“I couldn’t tell you who is going to win this League, it’s so tight, ” he said. “I don’t think first is claimed yet. It’s all about staying calm.”

One worry for Holloway will be the signs of nervousness that plagued Palace over winter. They were edgy at times last night, with Hull scoring twice without ever threatening. He added: “We spoilt it a bit, I’ve said one or two things I shouldn’t have had to say, when I analyse it we were a bit fortunate.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in