West Brom 0 Crystal Palace 2: Sako on target for De Boer´s men

Crystal Palace claimed third place in the Premier League Asia Trophy following a 2-0 win over West Brom courtesy of first-half goals from Luka Milivojevic and Bakary Sako.

With the new Premier League season three weeks away, Frank de Boer’s team looked the sharper of the two sides and the Dutchman will have been pleased by his side’s response to their previous outing in the tournament, in which they were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool.

After West Brom made a lively start to the game, Milivojevic scored a superb 20-yard free-kick in the 11th minute, curling the ball in at the near post via a slight deflection off Jake Livermore in the defensive wall.

Oh Luka!

[0-1] #WBACRY #PLAsiaTrophy pic.twitter.com/FRqLIBgtae

— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) July 22, 2017

Having asserted their dominance in attack, Palace defended well and goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey made a good save when Salomon Rondon turned in the penalty area and flicked the ball towards goal from close range.

Three minutes before half-time, Sako hit a somewhat speculative shot from 25 yards and the ball clipped Ahmed Hegazy’s toe before it struck the shin of Craig Dawson and drifted tamely past wrong-footed goalkeeper Ben Foster.

West Brom substitute Matt Phillips curled a spectacular drive towards goal in the opening moments of the second half, but Julian Speroni made an acrobatic save diving to his left.

James McClean fired narrowly over the crossbar from the edge of the box in the 69th minute as the Baggies attempted to salvage a goal, but Palace defended well and protected their clean sheet.