Palace to face Preston in Capital One Cup (From Croydon Guardian)

Eagles rewarded for Exeter win with the visit of Preston

2:52pm Wednesday 15th August 2012 in Eagles News By Tim Ashton

Crystal Palace will host Preston North End in the second round of the Capital One Cup after last night's first round win at Exeter City.

A Jermaine Easter penalty and Kagisho Dikgacoi's close range header secured a 2-1 win in the Eagles' first competitve outing of the season.

Dougie Freedman had said before the game that he would be taking a strong side to St James Park and so it proved with summer signing Joel Ward partnering Peter Ramage in defence, and Easter, Wilfried Zaha and Glenn Murray upfront.

Exeter took an early lead through John O'Flynn's header in the second minute but Palace were ahead by half-time.

Easter converted the spot-kick on 24 minutes after a handball and then Dikgacoi completed the turnaround just before the break.