In the seventy-eighth minute, he collected a pass from Milivojević, played a quick one-two with Rodríguez on the edge of the box, and slid a perfectly weighted through ball into Zaha's path. Wilf did the rest one touch to kill it, a second to fire it low and hard into the corner. The Palace fans in the upper tier erupted, their relief as loud as their joy.
West Ham 1–2 Crystal Palace. Zaha. 78 minutes.
Kevin Bray's corner routines helped us see out the final twelve minutes twice we won corners and used them to eat two, three minutes of clock, Bojan (on for Rodríguez in the eighty-second minute)... keeping the ball alive in the corner with the intelligence of a man who had played a hundred matches at the highest level. Dann came on for Benteke in stoppage time, the captain dropping into the back three to lock the door. The final whistle was a release.
[FULL TIME: West Ham 1–2 Crystal Palace. Goals: Benteke 41', Zaha 78'. Manager Record: P16 W14 D1 L1. The bounce-back begins.]
