Jean-Philippe Mateta scored the only goal of the game as Crystal Palace\u2019s first European fixture ended in a 1-0 victory over Fredrikstad in the first leg of their Conference League play-off at Selhurst Park.<\/p>\n The FA Cup winners were demoted from the Europa League by UEFA after it was deemed as of March 1 that American businessman John Textor had control or influence at both Palace and Lyon.<\/p>\n As such, Oliver Glasner\u2019s men had to settle for a place in Europe\u2019s third tier competition and it took them time to get going in Thursday\u2019s contest against their Norwegian opponents, with Mateta registering their first shot on target after 20 minutes and Adam Wharton shooting straight at the goalkeeper not long after.<\/p>\n Mateta crashed an instinctive first-time effort against the right upright and Solomon Owusu had to head off the line when Ismaila Sarr\u2019s header was parried by Martin Borsheim as the hosts bared their teeth before the break.<\/p>\n Justin Devenny headed wastefully wide shortly after the restart but Mateta finally made the breakthrough when he cleverly nodded Will Hughes\u2019 volley past Borsheim.<\/p>\n Daniel Munoz was unfortunate to glance his header from Jefferson Lerma\u2019s pin-point cross against the right upright, while Henrik Skogvold shot wide as the visitors almost stole a late leveller for next week\u2019s return leg in Norway.<\/p>\n First part of the journey complete pic.twitter.com\/k4GSqXa31m<\/a><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.soccernews.com\/wp-content\/themes\/SN\/images\/300x250_HR.gif\")
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