Sarr and Lacroix spell danger for AZ and spare Mateta's blushes after missed penalty

Oliver Glasner spent the week arguing that Crystal Palace's fixture congestion has made the FA Cup holders victims of their own success. So he will have been mightily relieved with the ease that his side dispatched AZ as an outstanding performance from Ismaïla Sarr reignited their Conference League campaign.

- Ed Aarons

a poacher's finish from close range to score Crystal Palace's second goal

(ADAM DAVY/PA)

The Senegal forward scored twice after Maxence Lacroix had given Palace the lead, even if Jean-Philppe Mateta endured one of his off-nights in front of goal as he missed an early penalty and several other gilt-edged chances. But with a testing trip to face Strasbourg - who are owned by the same company as Chelsea and rated with Palace as one of the favourites to win this competition - in their next match, only victory here would have sufficed and they showed a growing maturity given their inexperience at this level to get past youthful but talented opponents.

After being demoted to this competition from the Europa League by Uefa in the summer, Palace's sense of injustice has been fuelled by this week's fiasco over the scheduling of their Carabao Cup quarterfinal with Arsenal. The potential implications of having to play five matches in 11 days in December due to that and their European commitments made this game even more important to their prospects of reaching the knockout stages after a surprise home defeat to the Cypriot side Lanarca last time out.