Tom Ince scores on his Eagles debut…
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Tom Ince and Joe Ledley scored on their debuts as Crystal Palace sent West Bromwich Albion into the Premier League relegation zone with a 3-1 win on Saturday.
Having both joined Palace on the final day of the January transfer window, Ince and Ledley scored in the first half to set the London club on their way to a third win in four league outings.
West Brom debutant Thievy Bifouma replied early in the second half, but Marouane Chamakh’s subsequent penalty completed a victory for Palace that sent Pepe Mel’s West Brom tumbling into the bottom three.
Palace manager Tony Pulis handed debuts to three deadline-day signings in Ince, Ledley and Scott Dann, but they did not all enjoy stress-free starts to life at Selhurst Park.
Dann’s failure to deal with a clipped pass from Chris Brunt gifted Victor Anichebe an early sight of goal, but the former Everton striker’s mishit shot was comfortably saved by Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni.
Eager to atone, Dann was quick to threaten at the other end, but the former Blackburn Rovers centre-back’s chested effort from a corner was cleared off the line by Youssouf Mulumbu.
Ince, a loan signing from Blackpool, would not be denied a debut goal, however, and he fired his new side into the lead in the 15th minute.
The England Under-21 international was released by Yannick Bolasie and showed great pace to beat Gareth McAuley to the ball before clipping a shot past West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster.
Ince turned provider for the hosts’ other debutant 12 minutes later, bending in a corner that was headed home by the unmarked Ledley, who joined Palace from Scottish champions Celtic.
West Brom manager Mel made two changes at half-time, introducing Bifouma and Scott Sinclair, and the substitutions paid dividends within seconds.
Anichebe created Bifouma’s goal, pulling the ball back from the left for the 21-year-old former Espanyol forward to score his first West Brom goal with his first touch in English football.
The goal allowed the visitors to push Palace back, with Speroni repelling a 25-yard effort from Brunt before producing a stunning save to claw away a close-range effort from Sinclair.
However, having survived the storm, Palace made sure of victory in the 69th minute when Chamakh beat Foster from 12 yards after being upended by the England international.
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