Coventry City - 2 (Konjic 4. Doyle 27.)
Crystal Palace - 1 (Freedman 64.)

Crystal Palace went into this game on the back of six wins and a draw in their last seven games, needing only a draw in the final match of the season to ensure a playoff position. Of course, they lost! But West Ham came to the rescue, though rather late in the game, and the Palace faithful were able to travel home to SE25 in high spirits, knowing that Palace had secured the final playoff slot, and will now face Sunderland home and away (on 14 and 17 May) for a place in the final against either West Ham or Ipswich Town.

The only change Palace made for this match was the welcome return of Michael Hughes, with Shaun Derry dropping to the bench, and it was Coventry that got the match underway. They tried a long-range punt upfield, but Danny Butterfield shepherded the ball out.

Mikele Leigertwood got a good ball through to Andy Johnson, but as he sent the ball back to Danny Granville the home defence cleared the resulting cross. Gary McSheffrey sent in a weak shot that Nico Vaesen had little trouble with, and they then came close as Danny B had to clear the ball off the line. The resulting corner was sent in by Bjarni Gudjonsson, which found Muhamed Konjic standing in plenty of space, and he simply headed the ball into the back of the net to open the proceedings for the day.

AJ tried to get on the end of a through ball from Danny B, but Scott Shearer raced out from his goal to avert the danger, whilst at the other end Michael Doyle sent in a cross that Nico dealt with quite comfortably. Tony Popovic fouled Andrew Morrell, the resulting free kick catching most of the Coventry players offside as the Palace defence pushed up. Wayne Routledge put in a good run down the wing, the ball fell to Michael, and his cross found Julian Gray on the opposite side of the park. Unfortunately his cross into the centre went just behind Neil Shipperley, and the chance went begging.

Tony cleared the next chance that fell Coventry's way then the ball was passed crisply from Julian to AJ and on to Neil, but Calum Davenport beat him to the cross and the ball went behind for our first corner of the match. Michael sent the ball in from the corner, Aki Riihilahti pushed the ball goalwards, and though Shearer fumbled the ball under pressure from AJ he managed to hold on to it at the second attempt. McSheffrey almost got clear, but Mikele stopped him progressing on our goal, and as the ball fell to AJ he was pushed off to the side, the penalty appeal being turned down by the referee.

The same result applied at the other end as Tony got the ball from Graham Barrett, the referee waving play on, and shortly after Tony had to clear once more as McSheffrey raced clear on goal. Wayne was fouled, but the free kick was wasted before Julian did well to win a corner off Eric Deloumeaux. Davenport stopped the next Palace raid, though the corner almost saw Tony score, Konjic just managing to send the ball behind for another corner, this one being wasted once again.

A free kick to Coventry saw Davenport head the ball straight to Nico in the Palace goal, and at the other end Michael tried to lob the keeper, the ball falling just wide of the upright. Disaster struck again though as Doyle got on the end of a cross from McSheffrey, and he blasted the ball at goal, the deflection off the post nestling in the back of the net, and suddenly we were 2-0 down, with a seemingly herculean task ahead of ourselves if we wanted to get that elusive point.

Gudjonsson put in a cross that Morrell headed over the top before Michael sent in a cross at the other end that was cleared once more by Konjic. The first booking finally arrived, Tony being the culprit as he pulled Morrell back, and shortly after McSheffrey headed the ball over the top of our bar. Tony cleared the next dangerous ball, but it fell kindly to Gudjonsson, his shot being deflected behind for a corner, but Palace got a relieving free kick as Neil was fouled in the box.

Wayne got clear of the defence, his shot going just over the top, and at the other end Gudjonsson sent in a good shot that Nico had to punch away to safety. Wayne conceded a corner, and received a yellow card as he argued the merits of the decision with the referee. Nico got that ball clear, but signalled to the bench that he was in some sort of discomfort, but though Cedric Berthelin warmed up he recovered to complete the match for Palace. Michael sent a shot wide of the upright, the half time whistle sounded, and the players trooped off, presumably to hear the words of wisdom from Iain Dowie and Peter Reid.

Palace got the second half underway, and as Morrell ran at the defence Danny G got the ball clear, quickly followed by Julian stopping Deloumeaux as he almost appeared to get clear. Julian sent in a cross, but the ball went behind Danny G, and shortly after Julian sent in another cross, the defence dealing fairly simply with the chance. Danny B sent in a cross that the keeper did well to punch clear and then Morrell was booked for a foul on Danny B.

Another free kick to Coventry was fired in by Youssef Safri, but Nico did well to get a hand to the ball and avert the danger once more, and Palace decided it was time for a change to the line-up, bringing on Dougie Freedman and Shaun for Mikele and Aki, reverting immediately to a 3-4-3 formation. A dangerous free kick to Coventry was well cut out by Tony, and he sent AJ clear, and as he ran at the defence he popped the ball to Dougie who sent a first time shot straight into the back of the net. Suddenly we were back in the match.

A corner to Palace was played in by Shaun, but Barrett cleared the danger, and then Danny B got the ball to Neil, his flick to AJ just finding the keeper before our top scorer could strike. Michael was booked for a foul on Barrett, but Stephen Warnock sent the free kick too close to Nico, and the chance was lost. A free kick to Palace was played in by Wayne to Michael, and he found Julian free only eight yards out, his shot blasting over the top of the bar when it really looked so much easier to score. That was a chance wasted.

Julian was presented with another chance, but this time Davenport cleared the ball off the line, and it was starting to look as if it was just not going to be our day. Coventry made a change, substituting Morrell for ex-Palace player Richard Shaw, indicating that Coventry intended to hang on to their slender lead, as this left only McSheffrey up front, with the defence suitably bolstered.

Julian won a corner that was again wasted by Palace, and Coventry decided on another change, this time Claus Jorgenson coming on for Barrett. Shaw conceded a corner that Wayne fired in to Julian, his shot hitting a defender and bouncing away to safety, and shortly after Michael got a cross in that the keeper did well to take as Neil appeared in a menacing position. Palace decided to make their final change, with Tommy Black coming on to replace Neil, who appeared to have sustained some sort of injury, and the captain's armband was handed over to Michael.

McSheffrey was caught offside, but following this he did manage to get clear, and in a one-on-one with Nico he fired his shot goalwards, Nico managed to get part of his body behind the ball, and the golden chance to finish off the game went astray. At this point news filtered into the ground that West Ham had equalised at Wigan, and a huge cheer went up from the Palace contingent, as that would be enough to keep Palace in the top six, as long as all the other scores stayed as they were.

Danny G fired a shot over the top of the bar, and suddenly the game was all over. We had lost, but other results had finally turned our way, and Palace was in the playoffs, facing Sunderland twice in the next week or so. From here on in it is merely a lottery, and we will look forward to a great match on Friday night.

Go Eagles!!

Colin Pryce

Coventry City: Scott Shearer, Eric Deloumeaux, Muhamed Konjic, Calum Davenport, Stephen Warnock (Stuart Giddings 90), Bjarni Gudjonsson, Youssef Safri, Michael Doyle, Graham Barrett (Claus Jorgensen 78), Andrew Morrell (Richard Shaw 72), Gary McSheffrey.

Substitutes not used: Richard Brush, Andrew Whing.

Crystal Palace: Nico Vaesen, Danny Granville, Danny Butterfield, Tony Popovic, Mikele Leigertwood (Dougie Freedman 59), Wayne Routledge, Aki Riihilahti (Shaun Derry 59), Michael Hughes, Julian Gray, Andrew Johnson, Neil Shipperley (Tommy Black 83).

Substitutes not used: Cedric Berthelin, Gary Borrowdale.

Attendance: 22,195

Referee: Mr A Butler