Monday 25 July 2016 22:34, UK
Crystal Palace continued their unbeaten start to pre-season as Jordon Mutch's first-half strike earned a 1-0 victory at Colchester United.
The midfielder's long-range effort on nine minutes handed the Eagles a lead they never surrendered despite the hosts hitting the post and having a shot cleared off the line.
But Alan Pardew's men saw out the win to continue their preparations for the 2016/17 season - which they start at home against West Brom on August 13.
It took less than 10 minutes for Palace to break the deadlock as Mutch followed up his strike against Cincinnati by grabbing an early breakthrough from range, nonchalantly chipping the ball home via the crossbar for his second pre-season goal.
Palace controlled the majority of the half but were fortunate to go into the break in front when Alex McCarthy's misjudgment at a corner allowed Chris Porter to head against the frame of the goal.
Yannick Bolasie, playing only his second pre-season game, earned some valuable match time by continuing into the second half and forced Colchester 'keeper Sam Walker to palm his drive out for a corner on 47 minutes.
A raft of Palace substitutions shortly after the hour-mark affected the intensity of the game at the Weston Homes Community Stadium, and the hosts came close to drawing level once more when Joel Ward's last-ditch tackle prevented Porter from scoring and Sammie Szmodics pulled the rebound wide.
After yet more substitutions, Colchester had more possession in the closing stages against an inexperienced Palace outfit but they failed to worry Alex McCarthy, Tom Eastman blazing a late effort over the bar.
