



A sold-out stadium witnessed the Eagles' pre-season clash with Bromley FC this evening and it didn't take long for them to be rewarded with a goal.





Wilfried Zaha showed an impressive turn of pace to get by his man and drill a low cross into the Bromley box. Sullay Kaikai was unmarked in the middle and drilled a low effort off the near post after just 2 minutes.





The game got back underway and the Eagles enjoyed the lion's share of possession, trying to pry a way through the Ravens' defence. That second goal came on six minutes, when Kaikai - the architect this time - threaded Patrick Bamford through to smash home his first goal for the club.





Alan Pardew's men continued to dominate in all areas: keeping Bromley quiet on the break, enjoying most of the ball, but unable to hit Bromley for a third. On 16 minutes Bamford did manage to convert, after being played through one-on-one with McNamara, the on-loan forward coolly slotted into the bottom corner to give the Eagles a three-goal advantage.





The young striker soon sealed his hat-trick though. A neat interchange between Kaikai and Scales released the latter into the box, his low cross found Bamford and he prodded home from two yards.





Bromley continued to push for a chance to snatch a goal back, with Bradley Goldberg looking like the biggest threat for the home side. But it was Palace who hit the fifth of the game, with Gayle lashing a low drive into the far bottom corner of Bromley's net on the half hour mark.





The theme of Palace's domination continued as the first half came to a close. Any chance Bromley tried to fashion was quickly dealt with by Brede Hangeland, who was wearing the captain's armband for the evening. The imposing Norwegian won everything in the air and on the ground, barely allowing the home side a sniff of goal, whilst the Eagles' front line maintained their assault on McNamara's goal.





Both sides went in at the break with the score at 5-0 to the Eagles. Bamford's evening came to an end then, with Adlene Guedioura taking the field in place of the hat-trick hero.





It was a slower start to the second period from the Eagles, as Bromley looked more solid at the back up against one striker. Kaikai continued to cause problems with his pace and trickery down the left, but couldn't find a through.





Zaha was next on the scoresheet for Palace, despite a spell of good play from the home side. A mistake at the back allowed the winger to steal in and slot home from six-yards for the Eagles' sixth.





Keshi Anderson looked bright once he came on and had a handful of chances to grab a seventh for the Eagles, but some bad luck and great goalkeeping from McNamara kept the striker at bay.





Palace nearly added that seventh through Adlene Guedioura, as the Algerian showed a nice turn of pace to beat the last man. In the process, however, he was forced wide and his attempt was from too tight an angle to trouble the home side.





As the game crawled to an end, one last spectacular strike from Guedioura - a rabona from the edge of the box - rattled the crossbar. The referee blew the whistle soon after.





The Eagles got the job done and can now look forward to the test of facing Fulham at Craven Cottage.





Hangeland continued to deny Bromley, every time they looked to hurt the Eagles. The centre-back dominated whenever the ball was played towards the Palace box.





Palace starting XI: McCarthy (Kettings, 70); Kelly (Dymond, 70), Hangeland, Croll, Scales; Zaha (Bissaka, 70), Mutch (Anderson, 59), Ledley (Allassani, 70), Kaikai (George, 70); Gayle (Breimyr, 70), Bamford (Guedioura, 45).





Bromley starting XI: McNamara, Udoji, Anderson, Fuseini, Swaine, Holland (Minshull, 66), Joseph-Dubois, Prestedge (Francis, 66), May, Goldberg, Emmanuel (Birchall, 73).





Subs: Tumwa, Dennis, Wall.