Crystal Palace - 2 (Johnson 53. Riihilahti 69.)
Fulham - 0

For some strange reason, despite our poor record in the Premier League, an astonishing number of Palace supporters were somewhat upbeat about this game. Many were predicting a win for Palace, and some by quite a margin. Perhaps it was something to do with the good showing against Villa the week before, or perhaps it was just the thought of a London derby. Either way, if that is going to be the outlook we should be a shoe-in to defeat Arsenal on 6 November!

Crystal Palace kicked off in the game, and within the first couple of minutes Andrew Johnson had a gilt edged opportunity to open the scoring, his shot from the centre of the area being blocked by the visiting keeper, Edwin Van Der Sar. Shortly after Wayne Routledge sent a header goalwards that just missed to the side of the upright, and as Palace kept up the pressure a series of passes back towards their own keeper saw Ian Pearce touch the final ball to his keeper, but the touch was too soft, and as AJ darted in Pearce crudely pulled him down, and was immediately dismissed for his trouble. Only 6 minutes gone, and we were playing 10 men for the rest of the game. The resulting free kick saw Aki Riihilahti head the ball wide of the target, and a shot steered goalwards by Wayne was well stopped by the keeper.

Michael Hughes was caught offside, and Fulham decided on a tactical substitution, replacing Tomasz Radzinski with defender Alain Goma in an effort to shore up their defence. A corner to Palace was steered into the area by Wayne, but the defence was equal to the task, and the effort was wasted, and the following corner, from the opposite side was taken by Ben Watson, but cleared by Luis Boa Morte.

Wayne tried to find a Palace player from his next corner kick, but Adam Green effected the clearance, and AJ tried a shot that was blocked by Zat Knight.

At about the half-hour mark Wayne sent his effort wide of the goal post, and AJ was booked for a foul on Brian McBride, though it did not really look as if a card was warranted. Joonas Kolkka saw his shot saved by the keeper before finally the first real chance to Fulham arrived, as Steed Malbranque had a shot well beaten away by Gabor Kiraly, once more preferred in goal to Julian Speroni.

AJ missed another chance to open the scoring, as his header went wide of the target, and Ben tried his luck with a shot that also went astray. Aki took the next corner, but the chance was cleared by the Fulham defence before Emmerson Boyce fired in a shot that the keeper did well to hang on to, and the half came to an end with honours even.

Iain would have been pleased, one assumes, with the clean sheet, but considering the number of chances that we were presented with he would have felt that we should have been at least a goal or two up by this stage. He would have been urging the side to get out there, and make sure they finished on strongly, with hopefully three points in the bag by the end of the next 45 minutes.

As the second half got underway Palace made a change to their line-up, replacing Fitz Hall with Gonzalo Sorondo, and Ben tried a shot that went wide once more. AJ was caught offside, but shortly after Aki got a great pass through to him, and he made no mistake burying the ball in the back of the net to finally open the scoring with a well placed right-footed kick.

Malbranque had a shot that was well stopped by Gabor, whilst at the other end Emmerson tried again, this time his shot sailing over the top of the bar. Ben sent in a corner that McBride cleared as Fulham made a double change, taking off substitute Goma for Carlos Bocanegra and replacing McBride with Collins John, whose name always seems to be the wrong way round. One can only imagine the trouble Ted Dexter would have had with that name (remembering his problems with Devon Malcolm).

Bocanegra fouled Danny Granville, which led to Tony Popovic taking the free kick before Boa Morte tried a shot that was well caught by Gabor. Wayne tried his luck at the other end, once again the shot passing harmlessly over the bar and then Wayne sent in a corner that Aki rose to meet, his header flying into the back of the net to double our lead, and hopefully, putting the game beyond 10-man Fulham's reach.

Joonas had a shot that the keeper managed to keep out as Palace made their second change, this time replacing Wayne with debutant Vassilios Lakis. Shortly after we made our final change, this time Ivan Kaviedes coming on to replace Aki, who was given a rousing ovation as he left the field of play. Joonas played the ball in once more, but the keeper was equal to the task before Mark Pembridge tried a shot that went wide of the goal post, causing us little trouble. Ivan had a shot that the keeper saved once again as Bocanegra was booked for unsporting behaviour, and Boa Morte tried a shot that Gabor could only parry away, the chance being cleared by the Palace defence.

Boa Morte tried again shortly after, and Gabor reacted well to tip the ball round the post, but the corner, taken by Green, sailed harmlessly away. AJ saw another chance saved by the keeper, when he really should have passed the ball to Vassilios, who was unmarked and would surely have scored, and shortly after Ivan hit the woodwork just as he looked to have finally got the ball on target.

Joonas had his shot blocked by Moritz Volz, and despite three minutes of added on time the game saw only a final corner to Fulham, which was well cleared by Danny. We had won our first Premiership game, dragged ourselves off the bottom of the table at the expense of Norwich City, and can now, hopefully, look forward to many more wins to come.

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Gabor Kiraly, Emmerson Boyce, Danny Granville, Fitz Hall (Gonzalo Sorondo 45), Tony Popovic, Ben Watson, Aki Riihilahti (Ivan Kaviedes 74), Michael Hughes, Joonas Kolkka, Wayne Routledge (Vassilios Lakis 72), Andy Johnson.

Substitutes not used: Sandor Torghelle, Julian Speroni.

Fulham: Edwin Van Der Sar, Moritz Volz, Ian Pearce, Zat Knight, Adam Green, Steed Malbranque, Billy McKinlay, Mark Pembridge, Luis Boa Morte, Brian McBride (Collins John 62), Tomasz Radzinski (Alain Goma 9, Carlos Bocanegra 62).

Substitutes not used: Mark Crossley, Zeshan Rehman.

Attendance: 21,825

Referee: Mr M Riley