Stoke City vs Crystal Palace. Premier League.
Bet365 StadiumAttendance27,500.
Saturday 19 December 2015 18:17, UK
South Korean winger Chung-Yong Lee came off the bench to fire Crystal Palace to victory at Stoke City.
The game looked to be headed for a 1-1 stalemate with two minutes left on the clock when the former Bolton Wanderers man rifled in a superb winner to delight the travelling supporters.
Connor Wickham had earlier put Palace in front after Wilfried Zaha was fouled in the box in first-half stoppage time only for Bojan to cancel that advantage out with a second-half spot-kick of his own after a Damien Delaney handball.
Stoke had all the momentum after equalising but paid the price for their failure to twice clear a corner and Lee swept home the decisive goal after collecting the ball 25 yards from goal.
Palace remain sixth in the Premier League but are level on points with Tottenham and Manchester United and are only behind both on goal difference, while Stoke sit 11th.
Wickham's goal from the penalty spot was his first in Palace colours and came at the end of a half in which goalscoring opportunities were almost non-existent.
Bojan was quiet for the majority of the game but had the best opportunity to break the deadlock when his vicious strike from the edge of the box was well saved by Wayne Hennessey in the visitors' goal.
Other than that, the opening period - and, in fact, much of the game - followed the pattern of long spells of Stoke possession punctuated by swift Palace counter-attacks.
Stoke will have felt aggrieved that they were behind at the interval, and that they lost the game, but while they dominated the ball they were often lacking a decisive final pass or the invention to open up a goalscoring position.
Hennessey did well to repel a Glen Johnson effort four minutes into the second half after the full-back had twisted inside onto his left foot, and Marko Arnautovic had a shot deflected narrowly wide midway through the half.
Bojan took his penalty well and that should have been the catalyst for Stoke to translate their superior possession into a numerical advantage on the scoresheet.
But Palace were a threat on the break throughout and Lee timed his intervention to perfection to deliver the decisive blow with almost no time left in which the home side could provide a response.
Player ratings
Stoke: Butland (7), Johnson (7), Shawcross (6), Wollscheid (6), Pieters (7), Van Ginkel (6), Whelan (6), Shaqiri (7), Afellay (5), Arnautovic (6), Bojan (6).
Subs used: Walters (6), Adam (6).
Crystal Palace: Hennessey (7), Ward (6), Dann (6), Delaney (7), Souare (7), Zaha (7), Ledley (5), McArthur (6), Puncheon (6), Bolasie (7), Wickham (5).
Subs used: Mutch (6), Chamakh (5), Lee (7).
Man of the match: Erik Pieters.