Crystal Palace - 0
Burnley - 1

Despite Palace applying all the pressure in the first half, somehow this match got away from us, with Graham Branch coming into the match fairly late, and scoring with almost his first touch of the ball. This result put Burnley into a reasonable position in the League, but leaves Palace floundering near the bottom.

The first real chance of the match came when Richard Harris let fly with one of his now famous long throws that caught the defence napping. First on the scene was Julian Gray, but he hurried his opportunity and eventually the visitors were able to clear the ball to safety.

Following this Hayden Mullins was then guilty of wasting a golden chance, his shot from 20 yards out going wide of the mark. It appeared though that the defence would eventually crack, and Palace thought they had managed just that when Mullins made his way into the area, and fed a short pass to Tommy Black. Transferring the ball to his favoured left foot Tommy drilled the ball past a floundering Paul Crichton and into the back of the net. As Palace started to celebrate the linesman signalled offside.

The chance had gone, and with it seemed to go any ideas that Palace had on how to score.

The second half was significant only for the lack of opportunities to either side; Burnley's solitary goal coming five minutes after Branch took the field. Even Stan Ternent said that Burnley were lucky to take all three points, though he thought that his side defended well. Based on this showing it will not be long before Alan Smith has a side that will be capable of mixing it with any side in this League, and it would be a surprise if this season does not at least leave us in a better position than that of last year.

Perhaps we may get our own back in the Worthington Cup matches to follow?

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Stuart Taylor, Dean Austin (Mikael Forssell 83), Fan Zhiyi, Neil Ruddock, Hayden Mullins, Clinton Morrison, Tommy Black, Julian Gray, Richard Harris (Leon McKenzie 64), Jamie Pollock, Craig Harrison.

Substitutes not used: Steve Evans, Sean Hankin, Wayne Carlisle.

Burnley: Paul Crichton, Mitchell Thomas, Steve Davis (John Mullin 45), Glen Little, Paul Cook, Andy Cooke (Graham Branch 71), Philip Gray (Andy Payton 57), Paul Weller, Lee Briscoe, Kevin Ball, Ian Cox.

Substitutes not used: Ronnie Jepson, Bradley Maylett.

Attendance: 18,531

Referee: Mr J Winter (Stockton on Tees).