Crystal Palace - 1 (Morrison 38.)
Burnley - 2 (I Moore 23. 62.)

Crystal Palace went into this match desperately needing a win to maintain their Premiership push, but it was obviously not to be. Trevor Francis will, at least now, know what the task is that he has taken on, and perhaps Palace supporters can look forward to greater things in the very near future. With the result of this match Burnley achieved the "double" over us, and we cannot allow that to happen too often if we genuinely want to be title contenders come the business end of the season.

Burnley kicked off in this match, and the first attacking move came from Dean West, though Hayden Mullins managed to avert the danger. Julian Gray made a good run down the left side of the pitch, and then somehow inexplicably got himself booked when there really appeared no good reason for it. Gregg Berhalter conceded a corner, but he made amends shortly after, heading out the attempt at goal that resulted from the corner kick. Tony Grant then reacted well when Clinton Morrison and Dougie Freedman got clear on goal.

A good save by Matt Clarke denied Ian Moore, then Clinton appealed at the other end for a handball, the referee ruling that it was accidental, and thus no joy for the Palace attacker. Aki Riihilahti tried to find Dougie in the box, but his pass was hit a little too hard, then Gregg was knocked down by David Gnohere, who seemed to get away with this kind of action throughout the game without penalty. A free kick taken by Jovan Kirovski was well cleared by the Burnley defence, and almost immediately after Clinton drew a good save from Nik Michopoulos.

Aki then put in an intelligent cross that Clinton headed just wide of the post, but Burnley were quick to reciprocate, with Alan Moore and Glen Little spoiling a good chance to open the proceedings. A corner to Palace came in too high for the Palace attack, as they were well dwarfed by this huge Burnley side, and then a cross in found Jovan who blasted his shot over the top of the bar.

Needless to say, just as things were looking about even on the pitch Palace faltered and let the opposition in. A corner to the visitors was punched out by Matt, but as it came straight back into the area Ian Moore headed the ball over the Palace defence, and into the back of the net with our keeper well stranded. To their credit the Palace players kept plugging away, and Julian found Clinton in the area, but Gnohere managed to get the ball away to safety. Tommy Black played a good ball into Clinton, but once again the chance was wasted, and a corner for Burnley was cleared by the Palace defence.

A corner at the other end was taken, as usual, by Simon Rodger, and though the ball was partially cleared it fell neatly for Clinton to latch on to, and suddenly the ball was buried in the back of the net, and the score was once more back on an even keel. Dougie then attempted a header, and Clinton was caught offside once more (I wonder how many times per match he gets caught like that?). To compound the offside rulings three Burnley players were adjudged offside in the one movement. A good cross into the centre by Julian would have been really great if there had been a Palace player somewhere in the vicinity of the ball, but all the attack on our side seemed to have gone to sleep.

Glen Little was well stopped by Gregg, and though three minutes of injury time was added, and a corner fell to Palace, there was really no further action from either side, and the teams trooped off to listen to the words of wisdom from their respective managers, with Palace listening for the first time to the words of Trevor Francis. One can only assume that he was asking for more of the same, but unfortunately he did not get it.

A good cross in early in the second half was well cleared away by Hayden Mullins before Dougie made a good run down the right, picked out Clinton, but our Irish striker was unable to control the ball and the chance was lost for the moment. A corner to Palace was well dealt with by the defence but then Aki fired in a shot from fully 40 yards out, the ball hit the bar and bounced safely away, and Clinton was just waiting for the rebound. Lee Briscoe headed the ball goalward bound, but it went just over the top, and then Hayden and Jovan linked up well, but their final touches went astray, and we played on looking for the strike that would end the play.

A cross from Julian fell into the centre of the area, but there were no Palace players on hand to take advantage of the moment. We were just over the hour mark when calamity struck. The ball came loose in our area, and Ian Moore sent in a rasping shot that went low, and to the left of, Matt, and he was unable to get down to the shot, the ball once again resting in the back of our net. 2-1, surely we were not going to give in now?

The keeper saved a shot from Clinton, who was cleverly set up by Aki, and then Dougie was sent sprawling to the ground, though the resultant free kick came to naught. Tommy and Jovan linked up well, but still the final touches would not go right for Palace. A corner only saw Aki missing the ball when a touch may well have eluded the keeper, and Clinton then got caught offside once more. The few half-chances that came our way were generally being well dealt with by either the Burnley defence or keeper, and as the clock gradually wore down it started to look more and more as if we would not get anything from this match once again.

Three minutes of added time again for this half did nothing to assist Palace in their quest for at least a point in a match that they really should have got all three from, but all credit to Burnley, they came to Selhurst Park with a game plan, stuck to it, and took home the prize. Palace, meanwhile, will have to start all over again next week against Manchester City, and hope that they can once again get their season back on track. Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Matt Clarke, Dean Austin, Gregg Berhalter, Hayden Mullins, Tommy Black, Simon Rodger, Aki Riihilahti, Dougie Freedman, Jovan Kirovski, Clinton Morrison.

Substitutes not used: Alex Kolinko, Christian Edwards, Steve Thomson, Steve Kabba, Robert Kember.

Burnley: Nik Michopoulos, Ian Cox, David Gnohere, Dean West, Lee Briscoe, Glen Little (Tony Ellis 80), Paul Weller (Kevin Ball 49), Alan Moore (Lenny Johnrose 85), Tony Grant, Graham Branch, Ian Moore.

Substitutes not used: Luigi Cennamo, Andy Payton.

Attendance: 18,457

Referee: Mr P Taylor (Cheshunt)