Norwich City - 0
Crystal Palace - 1 (Austin 13)

Palace went into this match with a record of not having been beaten in their last seven games, whilst Norwich boasted almost the opposite record, not having won in their last seven. Even so, considering our poor away form, and particularly the turmoil at the Club over recent weeks, the match really could have gone either way. In an effort to save money Palace did not travel to Norwich the night before the match, opting instead to travel on the day of the match, and arriving only some 45 minutes before the kick off. Steve Coppell's only comment on this was that it saved the new debutantes from worrying about the game. I would think that they would have had time to worry on the bus!

The team featured two players making their senior debuts, Andrew Frampton and Andrew Martin, with James Hibburt and Gareth Graham on the bench. Following the mass exodus of players from the side, and taking into account that Coppell will not pick Gordan Petric or Sasa Curcic whilst the war continues in Yugoslavia, this result rates as a very fine effort by a young side.

The match got underway under the stewardship of Mr Hall, and with only three minutes on the clock a poor back pass from Malky McKay allowed Clinton Morrison to pounce. He managed to get the ball and get past Andy Marshall in the Norwich goal, but unfortunately wasted his opportunity, firing into the side netting. A few minutes later a clever move by Iwan Roberts presented the home side with, probably, their best chance of the match. He managed to find Chris Llewellyn, who shot wide from right in front of goal, with Kevin Miller hopelessly out of position.

A free kick to Palace was well dealt with on the line by the keeper, but the goal was not to be denied for long. Another free kick, taken by Craig Foster, found Dean Austin with miles of space right in front of goal. He cleverly placed his header to the left of the wrong footed keeper to score what I believe is his first goal since about February 1992. So, with the match less than a quarter of an hour old, we were suddenly 1-0 up. Pressure then followed from Norwich. Llewellyn fired over the bar, whilst chances from Paul Hughes and Darel Russell were comfortably dealt with by Miller. Craig Bellamy seemed to have half a chance of "convincing" the referee that a penalty should be awarded when he appeared to be held up in the box, but for once the official was on our side, and waved play on. The remainder of the first half seemed to pass with little incident, and the players went to the break still maintaining their slender lead.

The second part of play immediately saw Russell fire in a good effort, but Miller was equal to the task, tipping the ball over the bar. Two quick substitutions by the home side saw the introduction of on loan Paul Dalglish and £500,000 Manchester United signing Phillip Mulryne, who combined well late in the game without success.

Following a foul by McKay Fan Zhiyi fired in one of his "rocket like" shots, but Marshall made an easy save from a potentially difficult situation. A chance to Dalglish went just wide of the post, but the best chance of the closing minutes fell to young Andrew Martin. A well flighted shot looked goalward bound, but as is usual with our luck the ball hit the post, and went the wrong side of the woodwork!

Without further ado, the referee signalled the end of the match, and once again the travelling Palace faithful celebrated three more points towards our cause. Just what our cause is at the moment might be open to conjecture, but with relegation worries being well behind us for the season, and with the promotion play-offs appearing just out of reach, perhaps we should save some of these wins up for next season?

Colin Pryce

Norwich City: Andy Marshall, Daryl Sutch, Che Wilson, Darel Russell, Malky McKay, Matt Jackson, Lee Marshall (Adrian Forbes 66), Craig Bellamy, Iwan Roberts, Paul Hughes (Phillip Mulryne 57), Chris Llewellyn (Paul Dalglish 57).
Not Used: None.

Crystal Palace: Kevin Miller, Andrew Frampton (James Hibburt 79), Sun Jihai, Dean Austin, David Woozley, Steve Thomson, Craig Foster, Fan Zhiyi, Andrew Martin, Clinton Morrison (Wayne Carlisle 74), Hayden Mullins.
Not Used: Gareth Graham.

Attendance: 16,754
Referee: Mr A R Hall (Birmingham).