Christantus Uche was on the scoresheet as Crystal Palace were held to a draw by Finnish side KuPS in their UEFA Europa Conference League encounter.
The Nigerian midfielder opened the scoring in the 6th minute after receiving a pass from Justin Devenny at the centre of the box.
Uche showed composure as he fired a right-footed shot into the top-left corner to give Palace an early advantage.
KuPS responded in the second half, with Piotr Parzyszek equalising in the 50th minute before Ibrahim Cissé put the visitors ahead just three minutes later.
The goal sparked increased urgency from Crystal Palace, who eventually drew level through a Justin Devenny header.
The match ended in a draw, a result that saw Crystal Palace finish 11th and miss out on automatic qualification for the round of 16.
Uche delivered a solid all-round performance. He completed 13 passes, including four into the final third, created two chances, and achieved a 100% success rate with his long balls.
Defensively, he recorded three ball recoveries and won seven duels.
After the match, Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner reflected on the performance and the result.
“A good game. The first half was very good. I’m very pleased with the youngsters. We lost a little bit of structure for 10 minutes, and you get three finishes at the end and score four goals. We wanted to win and go straight into the round of 16. I knew this could happen we accept it.
“Again, especially with the younger players, we can see what they need all four under 21 players got cramp.
“We rested a few players because we knew that we will need them for our next game in a few days.”
“Leeds know our starting XI now because none of the players who started this match will play on Saturday. It will be a competitive game, we will show a big fight and hopefully come back with three points.”
In a further post match assessment, Glasner added:
“The result is not what we wanted. It’s a game we could easily have won. We calculated the risk of getting a draw. Everything else worked as we planned it because we were able to rest a few players.
“The only thing I don’t like is that Leeds now know our starting line up because there are only 11 players who didn’t start and nobody will start both games.
“We lost our structure for 10 minutes and were punished. Two mistakes and this can happen, especially with many young players.”
“Credit to everyone, especially our academy players. All four of them showed up and played with confidence. They gave good performances, but we can see they are not used to playing at this level because they were cramping after 60 minutes.”
Crystal Palace will now have to settle for a knockout tie as they try to secure a place in the Conference League round of 16.
