Newcastle under Benítez were organised, physical, and stubbornly difficult to break down. The first half was a chess match two managers who respected each other's systems, neither willing to commit too many bodies forward, both content to probe and wait.
Bojan was the key his intelligent movement between the lines dragged Newcastle's midfield out of shape, creating the pockets of space that Zaha exploited with his direct running and Townsend probed with his crossing.
The breakthrough came from Bojan himself. In the fifty-third minute, he received a pass from Neves on the edge of the box, turned his man with the subtlety of a pickpocket, and played a disguised, no-look pass into Pato's feet.
Pato, who had been drifting between Newcastle's centre-backs all afternoon, made a sharp, angular run across the face of the defence and slotted home with his left foot. The Bojan-Pato connection the trigger and the blade striking again.
Newcastle 0–1 Crystal Palace. Pato. 53 minutes.
