Sheffield United - 3 (Marcelo 20. 45. Ford 73.)
Crystal Palace - 1 (Morrison 90.)

The match got underway in sunny, warm conditions with United kicking off, their first raid on our goal being well tidied up by Andy Linighan. Following another approach to our goal Palace received a throw-in from which pressure was mounted on the Blades goal, but United managed to break clear, only being caught out by the offside trap. A good cross by Fan found Clinton Morrison, but the chance was cut out by Aidan Davison. United then made their first serious attempt on our goal, the shot going just wide. In a match that seemed to go from end to end the ball bounced around the United goalmouth area following a hasty punched out clearance from their keeper before Martin Smith managed to boot the ball clear, followed by an attempt from Fan whose shot also went wide. It was Fan who made the next attempt on goal when his header from a Jamie Smith cross went wide of the mark again. The home side then made an early substitution, bringing on Wayne Quinn for Lee Sandford.

Within moments of this Fraser Digby was forced to dive for the ball but could not get his hands to it, and Marcelo, the Brazilian born Venezuelan player, managed to get on the end of the cross to put United one goal up with only 20 minutes showing on the clock. A good jinxing move from Morrison on the edge of the area saw Lee Bradbury attempt a shot which was deflected by Sean Murphy. Curtis Woodhouse cleared another effort and a snap shot from Morrison went wide on the right. A fine combination from Fan, Bradbury and Morrison saw Morrison easily placing the ball in the back of the net, but the flag was up signalling offside. A dangerous move by Martin Smith resulted in another good clearance from Linighan, and at the other end Jody Craddock lost possession to Bradbury, but a scrambling clearance saved the day. A rare corner for United was well dealt with by Digby and a quickly taken shot on goal from Martin Smith brought another fine save. Steve Thomson managed to take the ball into the area but he was dispossessed by Craddock , but deep into injury time of the first half Digby came off his line, Marcelo rose above the defence and headed the ball into the back of the net for his second of the afternoon.

Palace kicked off the second half, and for a long period they looked far more determined not to go away empty handed. A dangerous move by Bradbury saw Wayne Quinn concede a corner, which turned out to be the first of 11 that Palace forced in the 45 minutes. United seemed to be content merely to attack on the break. In one such move Paul Devlin was flagged for offside. Back at the other end Davison dropped the ball and Bradbury was quick to seize on the chance, his effort cleared at the expense of a corner kick. A good strike followed from Fan, but the pressure was not converting into goals. A long range effort from Simon Rodger went high and wide, Bradbury was unlucky to lose the ball to Quinn and an effort by Thomson was well cleared by the defence. Two long range efforts, one at each end (ours from Morrison) came to nothing, then Fan had yet another header cleared. Attempts from Martin Smith and Marcelo were well defended then Morrison put in a cross to Bradbury at the post, but the keeper pulled off a good save.

Time for a change - bring on the subs.

Nick Rizzo and Chris Sharpling (the hero from the recent reserve game) came on at the 70 minute mark for Fan Zhiyi and Lee Bradbury, but the pressure seemed to shift to the home side. A good covering tackle from Hayden Mullins snuffed out one chance, whilst a shot by Devlin from just six yards out went just wide. Martin Smith then managed to evade his marker and shot wide of Digby, hitting the post. The rebound fell to Bobby Ford who had the simplest of tap-ins to make the scoreline read 3-0, and all hope for Palace was gone. Immediately following this Marcelo just failed to get his hat-trick when his shot went inches wide of the left post. A long ball from Dean Austin found Morrison deep in the area, but the keeper managed to get to the ball first. A cross from Sharpling was well cleared by the defence, and new substitutions from both sides saw Adam Burley and Richard Harris being introduced.

A spectacular effort from Nick Rizzo went just over the top and a miss-hit from David Woozley appeared to spell the end of the day for Palace, and it looked as though United would finish the game with a clean sheet. Despite not making any impression from the 10 corners we had received so far in this half, a final chance came from the corner flag, and this time Morrison was on hand to bundle the ball over the line to give us a late consolation.

The management will now be worrying about next week's fixture against Manchester City who are currently 2nd in the League. There is obviously still a lot of work to be done to bring the side up to these matches. The new owners will need to get in as quickly as possible to arrest this slide - let's hope that their talk of funds for new players materilaises soon.

Colin Pryce

Sheffield United: Aidan Davison, Shaun Derry (Adam Burley 81), Jody Craddock, Robert Kozluk, Lee Sandford (Wayne Quinn 17), Curtis Woodhouse, Bobby Ford, Martin Smith, Sean Murphy, Marcelo, Paul Devlin.

Substitutes not used: Ian Hamilton, ? Duke, Axel Smeets.

Crystal Palace: Fraser Digby, Jamie Smith, David Woozley, Dean Austin, Andy Linighan, Simon Rodger, Steve Thomson (Richard Harris 85), Fan Zhiyi (Chris Sharpling 70), Hayden Mullins, Lee Bradbury (Nick Rizzo 70), Clinton Morrison.

Substitutes not used: Matthew Gregg, Wayne Carlisle.

Attendance: 11,886

Referee: Mr D Laws (Whitley Bay)