Changing of guard does job for Dowie

Charlton 1 Crystal Palace 2

Despite making 10 team changes, Iain Dowie today claimed Charlton were not eliminated from the Carling Cup by Crystal Palace's reserves.

Midfielder Ben Watson was the only survivor from Saturday's 3-0 win against West Brom, but Palace were still too good for Alan Curbishley's first team and now face a trip to Manchester United in the next round.

Dowie said: "It's was not a second string, we paid just over £500,000 for Sandor Torghelle and Julian Speroni we paid £400,000 for.

"I took it very seriously. I wouldn't devalue this competition, it's very important for us. but it shows how highly I value our squad members. They needed their chance to show what they can do and they took it last night."

Torghelle was a hugely influential figure in Palace's raid on The Valley. After Hermann Hreidarsson's header was cancelled out by Dougie Freedman in the first half, the Hungarian striker took centre stage.

Torghelle scored his side's 54th-minute winner before being sent off for an outrageous dive when clean through inside the penalty area.

The offence was his second yellow card following an earlier foul on Chris Perry, yet his team-mates made light of the one-man disadvantage.

Apart from two further Hreidarsson efforts, lacklustre Charlton never seriously threatened an equaliser and Palace's new-look defence held firm.

Humiliation at the hands of their south London neighbours was all too much for a section of the Charlton crowd who waited behind after the final whistle to jeer their team from the field.

Manager Alan Curbishley said: "I can understand their frustration, they have showed it a couple of times before.

"It was a big game for them and they were disappointed that we were beaten. They wanted us to win, let's hope we can make up for it against Middlesbrough on Saturday."

While Curbishley is poised to ring the changes in a bid to break a run of four defeats, Dowie faces a more welcome selection headache for Saturday's trip to Birmingham.

He said: "One or two people have made me raise an eyebrow. That will give me a selection problem for the rest of the games.

"We need 22 or 23 players pulling in the right direction and you don't do that unless you give them a reward at the end. We have got a squad which is capable of competing against Premiership opposition."

Following a tireless display and a well-taken goal, striker Freedman looks certain to have played his way into contention for Palace's Premiership team.

He said: "They had their full Premiership side out, but we have got a strong squad at our club. We have 22 or 23 players who the manager can call on at any stage. He knows everybody wants to play and maybe this was a little reminder."

Dowie is hopeful Andy Johnson will recover from a knee injury in time to take on former club, but Fitz Hall (knee) and Michael Hughes (hamstring) face late fitness tests.

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