Presented before kick-off with a commemorative shirt celebrating his 112 appearances across four years at Queens Park Rangers, Eberechi Eze gladly accepted the gift - and then took a little bit more.
The mercurial playmaker was given a career lifeline by QPR after a handful of rejections at academy level and has since gone on to become an England international and, since Michael Olise left for Bayern Munich in the summer, Crystal Palace’s finest player.
Cruel though it will have felt for QPR fans, there was perhaps an element of the inevitable about the 26-year-old scoring the winner on his return to Loftus Road. His deflected strike saw Palace out of a real lull midway through the second half, taking them past their London rivals 2-1 and into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.
There was an intensity and a feistiness about Oliver Glasner on Monday when he asserted that: “It is our duty to take the Carabao Cup very seriously. We play the Carabao Cup to win it.”
His side were unpolished in aspects of their play, just as in all four league games so far - none of which they have won. Yet the fact alone of progressing into the last 16 and having done so on a tricky evening away from home will have pleased the Austrian.
Particularly encouraging was the first-half performance - much tidier than after the interval - and the showing of Eddie Nketiah.
The striker scored his first goal since joining from Arsenal for £25million plus £5m in add-ons on transfer deadline day. More than that, he cut a focused and determined figure, sharp all night and playing just behind Jean-Philippe Mateta as he combined nicely with Eze and Daichi Kamada.
Nketiah’s runs in behind offered Palace’s midfield an outlet, and his goal showed the smart finishing that kept him in the reckoning with the Gunners for so long. Eze’s smart quickly-taken free-kick was brought in by Nketiah, and an unerring finish flew through the legs of goalkeeper Joe Walsh before he knew it.
Eze’s goal, after the hour mark, came just 11 minutes after Sam Field had pulled QPR level and inspired a spirited period of possession and intent from the hosts. Field controlled and thumped home on the volley from a corner.
Glasner’s side were more than a touch fortunate that QPR’s hopes of a cup upset were quashed by Eze’s goal. Fortunate, too, that the finish flew off the leg of Steve Cook and found the net when it would otherwise have been gathered with ease by Walsh.
But Will Hughes came off the bench to nibble at the heels of the hosts and, professionally enough, Palace got over the line.
Only making three changes from the XI which drew 2-2 with Leicester in the Premier League on Saturday backed up Glasner’s earlier words about taking this competition seriously.
But just how close Alfie Lloyd’s flying volley came to earning QPR a draw and taking this tie to a penalty shootout showed the Palace manager that there is still plenty of work to do. This could have been a much more comfortable night for them.
