Crystal Palace - 1 (Johnson 19.)
Ipswich Town - 1 (Bent M 66.)

Palace, presumably in the form of Trevor Francis, made a number of changes to the side that lost 2-1 to Bradford at the weekend, and once they got the game underway Shaun Derry tried to play a shot in to Tony Popovic, who was unable to get to the ball in time. Tony was immediately in action at the other end, as a corner to Ipswich floated in, the tall Australian getting to the ball to clear the danger. Darren Ambrose took a long-range shot that went over the top of the bar before Andy Johnson won a free kick.

A shot from Danny Butterfield was easily dealt with by the Ipswich keeper, and then he was back, like Tony, to clear the danger at the other end as Marcus Bent was waiting to ghost in on the ball. A good header by Thomas Gaardsoe produced a brilliant save by Cedric Berthelin, and then Noel Whelan made a great run, his cross finding Danny B who had his pass blocked by the defence.

Darren Powell cut out the next chance to Ipswich before Shaun saw his cross well cleared by Andy Marshall. Julian Gray and Danny G did well to get through a number of the opposition before Fabian Wilnis got a last-ditch tackle in. Tommy Black took a free kick, but AJ was adjudged offside, though the same combination soon paid off as Tommy sent in a great cross that AJ headed into the top left corner, and suddenly we were 1-0 up.

AJ then centered the ball, but there was no one on hand to convert the chance, and the next attempt found Tony in an offside position.

A good cross in by Wilnis was well claimed by Cedric, and then he was alert enough to charge out of his area to cut out the danger once more, this time from Marcus Bent. A shot from Julian was easily dealt with by the Ipswich keeper, and at the other end Jim Magilton attempted to chip the ball over Cedric, but he got back fairly comfortably to save the situation. A free kick saw Tommy shoot wide of the post, and Shaun take a shot that was well saved once again by the keeper.

Cedric then had to clear the danger by punching the ball out, and as it fell to Ambrose he hit his shot well over the top. Though none seemed aware, the half was at an end, and we went off with the sides looking fairly even, but with Palace ahead where it mattered, on the scorecard. Trevor Francis would have been worrying though about the same situation against Bradford, and would be urging the players to go out there and get a second just as soon as possible.

Ipswich got the second half underway and Wilnis hit a shot straight at Cedric in goal, and as the ball progressed to the other end AJ got a great cross in to Tommy, his shot going just over the top of the bar.

Darren blocked a shot on the line before Julian sent a chance well wide of the post, and Ipswich decided on their first substitution, Chris Makin making way for Pablo Counago. Palace then made changes of their own, Noel and Tommy making way for Dougie Freedman and Steve Thomson. Counago nearly made an immediate impact, as his cross was just too deep for Marcus Bent, but a corner to our visitors saw the Palace defence just clear the ball for another corner. Magilton fired this one in, and, of course, it was Marcus Bent (the ex-Palace man) who got his head to the ball and buried it in the back of the net to level the scores.

Counago then fired a shot over the top of the bar, whilst Steve got booked for a poor tackle on Matt Holland. Dougie fired in a cross that resulted in AJ hitting the crossbar, and the corner that followed shortly after was easily claimed by the keeper. AJ fired another effort just wide of the goal before Dougie fired in a cross that Steve was unfortunate to allow to just get away from him.

Ipswich made another change, this time Martin Rueser taking the place of Darren Bent, then Marcus Bent sent a chance over the top once more. Palace made their final substitution, this time bringing crowd favourite Gary Borrowdale on for Julian, but by now time was rapidly running out. This move gave the home faithful the impression that Trevor was settling for the point, and many felt he should be going all out for the win, but it is always fraught with danger to try to second-guess the manager.

A shot from Dougie was cleared, and Steve's follow-up shot went wide of the target before a free kick to Ipswich saw Richard Naylor head the ball just wide of the post once more. With little further action the game came to a close, and though we were all thankful for the point that moved us slightly up the table many felt that this was three points wasted. In honesty, the way the Ipswich side performed, we were, perhaps, just a little lucky to get the point that we got, and we could easily have got nothing for our troubles.

So, we move on to our fixture against Reading, at Elm Park, next weekend, and given a little luck we should be able to travel home with all three points in the bag. Won't that be nice?

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Cedric Berthelin, Danny Granville, Hayden Mullins, Tony Popovic, Darren Powell, Tommy Black (Steve Thomson 61), Danny Butterfield, Shaun Derry, Julian Gray (Gary Borrowdale 87), Andrew Johnson, Noel Whelan (Dougie Freedman 61).

Substitutes not used: Alex Kolinko, Ade Akinbiyi.

Ipswich Town: Andy Marshall, Chris Makin (Pablo Counago 54), Fabian Wilnis, Darren Ambrose (Matthew Richards 23), Thomas Gaardsoe, Matthew Holland, Jim Magilton, Jermaine Wright, Darren Bent (Martijn Rueser 82), Marcus Bent, Richard Naylor.

Substitutes not used: James Pullen, Dean Bowditch.

Attendance: 15,990

Referee: Mr E Wolstenholme (Lancashire)