Crystal Palace - 2 (Black 11. 74.)
Oldham Athletic - 0

Oldham are currently riding high in Division Two, and so far this season they are unbeaten away from home. This amazing statistic includes matches away in this Cup to West Ham and Derby County, a very creditable performance. Both sides, of course, were keen to get through to the next round, where the possibility of a game against Premiership opposition surely awaits, so there was everything to play for.

Palace, somewhat surprisingly, fielded a very youthful side, including Gareth Williams in the starting line-up, and no less than four youngsters on the bench in the form of Gary Borrowdale, Will Antwi, Robert Smith and David Hunt.

Oldham started the match in a rush, winning a corner almost directly from the kick-off. David Eyres steered the ball in towards the goal, but Dele Adebola cleared the chance; I wonder what he was doing back so far? A couple of free kicks followed, with neither side taking advantage, and finally the ball sailed goalward, unfortunately towards our goal, but Darren Powell this time cleared the danger. Tony Popovic was pinged for an accidental handball, which was followed by a shot at goal by Eyres that Alex Kolinko had little trouble in catching.

A throw-in taken by Danny Butterfield found Gareth Williams free on the left, and he cleverly played the ball into the area where Tommy Black was on hand to head the ball into the back of the net. 1-0, and we were still only in the early stages of the match. A corner conceded at the other end once again saw Dele clear the danger, and Tommy was immediately back in the penalty area firing on goal, his shot being parried by Australian keeper Les Pogliacomi.

Gareth was next to fire a shot in anger, but this went wide of the post, then Hayden Mullins missed with a long-range shot, this time putting the ball wide on the opposite side. An early substitution came as Clint Hill was replaced by Wayne Andrews, and though it is unclear exactly what happened it was later revealed that Hill had sustained a broken leg, though there was certainly no incident that anyone was aware of, including the referee.

A corner to Palace was fired into the centre by Danny B, and though Tommy managed to get on the end of the ball his shot once again went wide of the mark. A header goalwards by Fitz Hall kept Alex awake as he simply plucked the ball out of the air, then two very quick corners at the other end were totally wasted by Palace. Christopher Killen was then caught offside and as Oldham won the ball back a poor cross came in from Darren Sheridan, the ball going straight out of play.

Julian Baudet fired a long-range effort wide, then a corner taken by Eyres was well cleared by Danny B. Gareth tried a shot at the other end, but his effort was blocked by David Beharall, and Hayden fired another shot in that the keeper did well to tip round the post. The corner was fired in by Danny Granville but went straight out of play without a Palace player even getting close. His next attempt at a corner was a little better, this time Beharall managing to clear the danger.

A cross into the centre by Andrews was cleared by Kit Symons, then Killen tried a shot that Alex once again easily got his hands to. As added-on time arrived Danny G cleared a dangerous forward move, but though the referee initially waved play on the "assistant referee" (normally referred to as a linesman) frantically waved his flag, forcing the game to come to a halt. Following discussions between the two officials the referee awarded a free kick to Oldham, and sent Danny off for "violent conduct". Depending on your point of view this may have been a little harsh, but the decision stands, and we could do no more than get on with the rest of the game with only 10 men on the field.

With little further action the half came to an end, and as our remaining players trooped off for the half-time pep talk Trevor would, presumably, have been trying to figure out just how he was going to revamp the side in an effort to maintain our lead. We need not have worried though, Trev had it all under control, as the second half play showed.

Immediately on resumption of play our first substitution took place, Gary coming on for Gareth, in what was clearly a tactical move, a defender coming on for an attacker. This left Dele alone up the front, but shored up the defence for the onslaught that was surely to follow. As things transpired the expected all out attack from our visitors never arrived, and another 45 minutes for Gareth could have proved interesting.

Killen was again caught offside, whilst at the other end Tommy tried to play provider, quickly taking a corner that went straight out of play once more. Danny B fired a shot into the centre that was cleared by Michael Clegg, and then it was the turn of Tommy to be caught offside. A shot on goal by Dele was well caught by the keeper, and as play stopped for a foul, this time on Kit, Oldham took the opportunity to make their second substitution, bringing on Lourenco De Silva for Clegg.

Gary fired a corner into the centre, but it was cleared by old Palace favourite Chris Armstrong, and as he was given the opportunity once again he sent the ball almost to the same spot where Eyres cleared the danger. A shot on goal from Eyres was once again easily dealt with by Alex, and two quick corners to Palace were fired in by Tommy, the last being held by the keeper. It was to prove to be Tommy's day though. As a clever pass came to him from Dele he made no mistake burying the ball in the back of the net to complete his double of the day, and kill off any thoughts that Oldham may have had of getting back into this match.

A foul by Sheridan on Hayden saw the Oldham man booked for unsporting behaviour, and once again Oldham took the opportunity to make their final substitution, this time bringing Carlo Corazzin on to replace Clyde Wijnhard. A shot on goal by Gary was well taken by the keeper, and Eyres was then booked by the referee for a foul on Tony. Andrews became the third player booked in a short space of time, this time for a foul on Aki Riihilahti, and by now time really was running out.

Armstrong sent a cross into our area that Hayden managed to clear, and the fourth official signalled three minutes of added-on time. Presumably in an effort to slow things down Trevor Francis made two substitutions, David Hunt and Will Antwi coming on for Tommy and Kit. A final corner to Palace was wasted, and the referee blew his whistle as Palace progressed to the next round, the quarterfinals. Not a bad effort with only 10 men for 45 minutes, but often it seems to happen that the side numerically disadvantaged goes on to score, and win the game. Fortunately for Palace this was true today!

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Alex Kolinko, Danny Granville, Hayden Mullins, Tony Popovic, Darren Powell, Kit Symons (Will Antwi 90), Tommy Black (David Hunt 90), Danny Butterfield. Aki Riihilahti, Gareth Williams (Gary Borrowdale 45), Dele Adebola.

Substitutes not used: Nikolaos Michopoulos, Robert Smith.

Oldham Athletic: Les Pogliacomi, Chris Armstrong, Julian Baudet, David Beharall, Michael Clegg (Lourenco De Silva 66), Fitz Hall, Clint Hill (Wayne Andrews 16), Darren Sheridan, David Eyres, Christopher Killen, Clyde Wijnhard (Carlo Corazzin 76).

Substitutes not used: David Miskelly, Lee Duxbury.

Attendance: 7,431

Referee: Mr C Foy (Merseyside)