Crystal Palace 0 Sampdoria 1 (Volpi 77)

Crystal Palace's frustrating summer ended in disappointment on Saturday as just 5,551 watched Serie A side Sampdoria clinch the BT Cup.

A thunderous late free-kick by Blucerchiati captain Sergio Volpi finally beat new Eagles goalkeeper Julian Speroni after he produced a string of outstanding saves to keep the Italians at bay.

With temperatures and match ticket prices higher than the seasonal average, a sweltering Selhurst Park was sparsely populated for Palace's second glamour pre-season friendly, at the end of a week where Birmingham's Aliou Cisse became the latest target to go elsewhere.

Iain Dowie looked to lift the growing gloom by naming his five summer signings including £750,000 striker Sandor Torghelle in a full-strength side, ahead of next week's big kick-off.

With little more than a week's training, the 22-year-old Hungarian international was well off-the-pace until being withdrawn on 78 minutes but showed enough to suggest he could be a shrewd acquisition.

His touch and movement were a little sluggish, but his tenacity, strength and taste for a battle stood out against the tempestuous Italians, who had four booked.

New signings Mark Hudson and Emmerson Boyce gave solid performances at the back, where stand-in captain Tony Popovic marshalled the offside trap with expert precision, but Finnish winger Joonas Kolkka was largely anonymous.

The stand-out performance came from Palace's Argentinian stopper Speroni who made three breath-taking saves, one of which was right out of the top drawer.

Sampdoria's top scorer Fabio Bazzani ran onto an inviting left-wing cross, just 12 yards out unmarked and possibly offside, he headed firmly towards the bottom left hand corner. Just as the 150 Italian fans behind Speroni's goal drew breath for celebration, the £500,000 signing somehow got his fingertips to the ball and diverted it wide.

He had already pushed Volpi's drive wide on 17 minutes, and minutes after denying Bazzani, he was quickly off his line to smother Belarus striker Vitali Kutuzov when he broke clear of the defence.

But the hosts were certainly not being out-played and created several chances of their own in the first hour, when their passing looked sharp and incisive.

The high temperatures saw referee Andy D'Urso stop the game in each half for drinks, but tempers still boiled over before the break after a Granville foul. The small melee quickly died down, but D'Urso still booked the Palace aggressors Granville and Torghelle.

Wholesale changes were made by both sides, as the match petered out before Sampdoria manager Walter Novellino proudly lifted the BT Cup.

Iain Dowie was keen to draw on the positives afterwards.

He said: "Sampdoria were a big strong physical side and it was an interesting game, very neat and tidy with good possession. The free kick has flown straight through the middle of the wall which is disappointing, but the display was pleasing for 70 minutes against an excellent side."

He was pleased with the performances of his new signings: "It's Sandor's first game and it was probably a bit too long for him, but I thought he did well. "

"We didn't get enough ball to Joonas (Kolkka) in the game but we are getting used to the way he plays and it takes time to get the gel right. "

Palace: Speroni; Boyce (Leigertwood 82), Hudson (Togwell 84), Popovic (Powell 76), Granville (Borrowdale 82); Routledge (Soares 82), Riihilahti (Derry 69), Hughes (Watson 69), Kolkka (Williams 88); Johnson (Black 76), Torghelle (Freedman 76).