ADAM Armstrong snatched off the goalkeeper to score his first goal since August as Saints came from behind to defeat Crystal Palace 2-1 at Selhurst Park, in the FA Cup third round.

The new father’s last came when then Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side beat Chelsea, with this effort following a freak James Ward-Prowse equaliser in a day for Vicente Guaita to forget.

Odsonne Eduoard had put the Eagles ahead inside 15 minutes and Saints supporters turned on manager Nathan Jones with more than audible chants just 10 minutes later.

But Saints held on after four substitutions and rode a bit of luck to frustrate the Selhurst Park crowd, who saw several shouts for free-kicks and penalties go down.

READ MORE: Lawrie: No need to panic at this stage

Jones made five changes from the poignant 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Wednesday, which was marked by deafening fan frustrations on the referee’s whistles.

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He returned to the four-at-the-back but Lyanco, who was at fault for the goal, retained his place and in fact moved to right back and faced a repeat of October’s clash with Wilfried Zaha.

The likes of Kyle Walker-Peters, Romeo Lavia and Moi Elyounoussi were rested with two more games to come within seven days, and Stuart Armstrong missed out to recover from knocks.

The battle between Zaha and Lyanco took merely minutes to get under way after Darren Bond’s whistle, with the Ivorian getting the better of him to a certain degree inside the first 10.

It was Zaha who nipped in front of Lyanco to give Jones’s side a disaster start, fizzing into Eduoard for the Frenchman to take one touch past Duje Caleta-Car and finish for the opener. 

Jordan Ayew hit the crossbar from close range soon after in what was a golden opportunity to put Palace out of sight of a disorganised and sloppy Saints team.

After just 24 minutes of his sixth match in charge, the travelling supporters loudly and clearly chanted – in almost unison – ‘Nathan Jones, your football is s**t.’ They then repeated it six later.

But it was Jones’s side who would score next, drawing level as Ward-Prowse’s whipped free-kick cross towards the back-post somehow evaded everyone and bounced into the net.

It was not a shot, in reality, but it went down as their first shot on target in over 120 minutes – and Saints were still yet to score from open play against Premier League opposition under Jones.

Che Adams was substituted off after 60 minutes with just 22 touches of the ball and no chances, while Armstrong was well denied with a back-header.
But the former Newcastle United man made his own luck to send Saints ahead with 20’ to play, snatching off Guaita and rolling into a completely open net for a first FA Cup goal for Saints.

The home team wanted a penalty as Lyanco appeared to have tripped Zaha – a battle which had swung in the Saints favour over the game – after being beaten, but the referee said no.

Jones made his intentions clear with his substitutions, shaping up with wing-backs again as Kyle Walker-Peters came on and having Joe Aribo and Armstrong replaced by Ibrahima Diallo and Moussa Djenepo.

Lyanco got away with what looked a blatant foul on Jordan Ayew deep into five minutes of added time as Saints booked their progression to the next round of the competition.

Crystal Palace: Guaita; Clyne, Andersen, Guehi, Ward (Eze, 74); Hughes (Schlupp, 74), Doucoure (Milivojevic, 65), Ayew, Olise, Zaha, Edouard (Mateta, 65).

Unused subs: Tomkins, Richards, Riedewald, Gordon, Johnstone (g/k)

Booked: Ward.

Saints: Bazunu; Lyanco, Caleta-Car, Salisu, Perraud ; Maitland-Niles, Ward-Prowse, Aribo (Diallo, 87), Edozie (Walker-Peters, 80), A Armstrong (Djenepo, 87); Adams (Mara, 60).

Unused subs: Lavia, Finnigan, Morgan, Elyounoussi, Caballero (g/k).

Booked: Perraud, Caleta-Car, Ward-Prowse, Walker-Peters.

Referee: Darren Bond.

VAR: Craig Pawson.

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