---
title: "Our man of the match – Crystal Palace (H)"
canonical: "https://readsouthampton.com/2016/01/09/man-match-crystal-palace-h/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Luke Osman"
section: "Feature Writers"
published: "2016-01-09T20:39:30Z"
modified: "2016-01-09T20:39:30Z"
---

# Our man of the match – Crystal Palace (H)

It was another frustrating and lacklustre performance from an extremely low- confidence Southampton side as they slumped to their eighth defeat in ten games after Crystal Palace defeated them 2-1 in the FA Cup third round.

Southampton set up defensively-minded, but failed to stop Joel Ward powering through and scoring Palace’s opener before the break. Oriol Romeu bagged an early equaliser in the second half but the Saints’ resistance was once again broken through a Wilfried Zaha winner.

It was a tricky game to pick a man of the match from, however I have decided to go with Southampton’s goal scorer, Oriol Romeu.

![Mike Hewitt/Getty Images Sport](https://cdn.readeverything.cohttps//media.readsouthampton.com/readsouthampton/2016/01/504157854.jpg)

The Spanish midfielder had started the game following his return from suspension correlating with Victor Wanyama’s two game supsension beginning and Romeu duly delivered.

His tenacity and aggression was a key factor in the midfield in which Southampton dominated for large parts of the game, although they were taken apart on the wings.

Romeu also added his second goal of the season to his performance; making him an obvious winner for our man of the match in a hugely disappointing game and cup exit.