Crystal Palace - 3 (McKenzie 17. Forssell 29. 31.)
Stockport County - 3 (Moore 43. 63. Cooper 55.)

If you are a believer in omens, then this match never looked very good for Palace. The last time we met Stockport, at Edgeley Park, they were in 6th place in the League, and had not lost a game at home. Palace, of course, had not won a game away since very early in the season. Needless to say we beat them! Now the tables have been reversed somewhat, with Stockport having only gained 7 points since that time, in 14 matches, while we have gained 14 points, and they are now looking for their first win this calendar year. To compound matters they have never beaten us in the League at Selhurst Park, and their top scorer (Tony Dinning) is suspended for this match. Surely, they are bound to win?

As the match unfolded it looked almost impossible for them to win, then very likely that they would!

The start of the match saw a great number of chances falling the way of the home side, with very little action at our end of the pitch. Leon McKenzie, in particular, was causing all sorts of problems for the visitors, and when Wayne Carlisle sent in a deep cross McKenzie was on hand to finish the move. That the ball went into the back of the net off the back of Martin Taylor there can be little doubt, but by the start of the second half the goal had been officially credited to Leon.

Despite having taken the lead with little more than 15 minutes on the clock, Palace were obviously in no mood to rest on their laurels. Mikael Forssell, who had gone some seven games without scoring for Palace, more than made up for his previous misses. With nearly half-an-hour on the clock another pass from Carlisle found Mikael in space. Advancing on goal he fired his shot past Carlo Nash and doubled the lead. Before Stockport had time to recover Mikael was again in the action. Carlisle and Hayden Mullins put together the ground work, and his second, from 15 yards flew past the keeper - suddenly Palace were three goals up, with plenty of time to go.

Whether Palace then decided it was time for a rest, or if Stockport suddenly realised that they also came here to get the points remains a moot point, but to say that Steve Coppell was not pleased with the soft goal that was let in just before the break would be an understatement. Kevin Cooper crossed for Ian Lawson to head the ball into the path of Ian Moore. His soft header eluded Fraser Digby in goal, and suddenly our lead was cut by one.

Things, unfortunately, did not improve with the start of the second half, and though it took fully 10 minutes their second goal finally came.

This time it was Cooper that found himself in a position to score, and his low shot eluded Fraser, who following his injury seemed slow to respond to the danger. Things were suddenly starting to look a little fragile. The Palace side was looking for the end of the match that was fully half an hour or so away, and the visitors were making the entire running.

With Lawson back in the action just 8 minutes or so after the setback of the second goal, he managed to get the ball to an advancing Moore once again. This time he fired his shot straight at Fraser, but the keeper was unable to hang on to the ball, and Moore made no mistake with his second attempt. 3-3, and there was still 25 or more minutes to play.

Two more chances from Moore and Stuart Elliott could well have settled the match, but finally Fraser was equal to the task, keeping at least a point alive for the Palace faithful. A shot by Mikael somehow went astray, and the resulting miss-kick from Leon appeared even more bizarre.

Many comments were heard after the game about the two points that got away, but forever the optimist let's consider it a point gained when the bottom three Clubs lost. One can be sure that Steve will be counseling the side on how easy it is to think that the game is all over before the final whistle blows.

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Fraser Digby, Dean Austin, Fan Zhiyi, Andy Linighan, Ashley Cole, Wayne Carlisle, Craig Foster, Hayden Mullins, Clinton Morrison, Leon McKenzie, Mikael Forssell.

Substitutes not used: Jamie Smith, David Woozley, Steve Thomson, Matthew Gregg, Steve Hunt.

Stockport County: Carlo Nash, Sean Connelly, Mike Flynn, Martin Taylor, Shane Nicholson, Ali Gibb, Kevin Cooper, Karim Fradin, Stuart Elliott (Colin Woodthorpe 61), Ian Moore, Ian Lawson (Aaron Wilbraham 87).

Substitutes not used: Ian Gray, Glynn Hancock, Chris Allen.

Attendance: 16,646

Referee: Mr L Cable (Woking).