Crystal Palace - 1 (Johnson 84.)
Preston North End - 1 (Healy 51.)

Palace came into this match under the control of newly appointed manager Kit Symons, and his recently appointed assistant Stuart Gray. Some changes were needed following the severe drubbing they received at Wigan last week, but just how long Kit's temporary appointment lasts remains to be seen.

A foul by David Healy on Ben Watson saw a free kick to Palace, and a series of fouls finished with Danny Butterfield crossing the ball into the centre, the defence dealing well with the shot.

Healy tried a shot of his own that was blocked by Curtis Fleming, and then Healy managed to get caught offside. Eddie Lewis sent the ball into the danger area for Palace and Richard Cresswell headed the ball over the top of the bar. Ben managed to hit the woodwork with a shot from the right hand side of the penalty area and Shaun Derry had a shot blocked by the defence. A corner to Palace was fired in by Ben, but Cresswell cleared the ball, and things settled back into end-to-end play once more.

Cresswell was caught offside, and shortly after Paul McKenna fired a cross into the centre that was cleared by Kit. Curtis was booked for a foul on Cresswell, and then Michael Keane was booked, just to even things up, this time for a foul on Tony Popovic. Believe it or not this was about all the action for the first half, and despite two minutes of added on injury time the scores were locked at 0-0 as the break was upon us.

Kit would have been pleased with the improved defensive effort, though he was playing a straight back four, but he might have been a little concerned that the strikers were not even getting reasonable attempts on goal at the other end.

Preston made an immediate substitution at the start of the second half, replacing Keane with Dickson Etuhu, and most put this down to an injury, though the fact that he was on a yellow card may have had some influence on the decision. Five minutes into the half Cresswell was well offside, but as the Palace players stopped Healy ran round them and curled a great shot into the back of the net. The referee ruled that Cresswell did not interfere with play, and thus the goal stood. Once again we were guilty of conceding a soft goal.

Eddie Lewis was booked for unsporting behaviour, though in truth it was for a foul on Danny, and a corner to Palace saw Ben fire the ball in, Jonathan Gould punching the ball away to safety. Andrew Johnson was booked, again for unsporting behaviour, and another corner to Palace was cleared by Etuhu. Two more corners fell to Palace in quick succession, but the keeper was up to the task, and as the ball went up the other end Chris Lucketti was caught marginally offside.

Wayne Routledge came on to replace Danny, and at the other end of the park Lee Cartwright took over from Lewis. Another corner fired in by Ben was cleared by the keeper, and moments later another was cleared by Cresswell. AJ tried a shot that was held by the keeper, and a minute later Neil Shipperley saw the same result from his attempt on goal. AJ tried another shot that was tipped round the corner by Gould, and as the corner kick came in from Ben it was Tony who headed the ball down, the chance going wide of the mark.

Tommy Black came on for Curtis, and a corner to our visitors was wasted by the Preston attack. Preston made their final change, Simon Lynch replacing Brian O'Neil, and moments later our reward finally came. The ball came into the centre, and Neil headed it down for AJ to simply steer the ball home from close range. We were back on level terms, with just a few minutes remaining in the match.

Healy tried a shot that was well saved by Thomas Myhre, and then Jamie Smith fired a shot goalwards that the keeper blocked. A couple of final corners to Preston came to nothing, and Palace made a very late substitution, giving a debut to Gavin Heeroo, who replaced Ben. There was hardly time for him to take up his position though, as the full time whistle went, and though most Palace fans would rue the fact that the team did not win we will just have to be satisfied with at least gleaning a point. This time last week it looked unlikely we would ever get another one!

Following the match Kit said that he was pleased with the way all the players performed, including himself, but I think he might have liked to have seen a few more shots from Dougie Freedman, who was very quiet today, and Neil. Ah well, maybe in two weeks time when next we play a competitive fixture.

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Thomas Myhre, Tony Popovic, Kit Symons, Curtis Fleming (Tommy Black 78), Danny Butterfield (Wayne Routledge 62), Shaun Derry, Ben Watson (Gavin Heeroo 90), Jamie Smith, Andrew Johnson, Dougie Freedman, Neil Shipperley.

Substitutes not used: Cedric Berthelin, Gary Borrowdale.

Preston North End: Jonathan Gould, Robert Edwards, Michael Jackson, Chris Lucketti, Graham Alexander, Paul McKenna, Eddie Lewis (Lee Cartwright 67), Michael Keane (Dickson Etuhu 46), Brian O'Neil (Simon Lynch 82), David Healy, Richard Cresswell.

Substitutes not used: Pawel Abbott, David Lucas.

Attendance: 14,608

Referee: Mr A Wiley