Todorov strike sinks Palace
Published: 00:00, 01 September 2007
Updated: 17:03, 01 September 2007
Crystal Palace 0 Charlton Athletic 1
SUBSTITUTE Svetoslav Todorov became an instant hero with Charlton supporters after his 74th minute winner kept the bragging rights with the Addicks in Saturday's 1-0 derby win at Selhurst Park.
The Bulgarian striker showed his class and experience when he took advantage of a mistake by Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni to score a simple goal that sent the club's supporters wild with delight.
Manager Alan Pardew admitted afterwards: "Toddy was not happy about being left out of the starting line-up after scoring a brilliant goal in midweek.
"He has a certain way of letting you know when he's not happy. He looked at me at bit strangely and then walked about a bit.
"He's a great lad and nobody is more pleased than me that he came on and won the game for us."
Pardew was full of praise for his under-fire defence who kept a first clean sheet in the league and looked a lot more solid than of late.
"The back four were a lot stronger and I was well pleased with their performance.
"Danny Mills looked a bit rusty to start with and we had words at half-time. But he was a lot better in the second period."
Charlton goalkeeper Nicky Weaver produced exceptional saves to twice deny Palace striker James Scowcroft while Charlton substitute Izale McLeod should have made it 2-0 in the last minute of stoppage time when he got clean through only for Speroni to save.
Charlton: Weaver, Mills, Fortune, McCarthy, Powell, Thomas (Todorov 67), Semedo (Racon 72), Ambrose, Reid, Zheng, Iwelumo (McLeod 90).
Subs Not Used: Randolph, Sam.
Attendance: 18,556.
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