Crystal Palace - 1 (Freedman 66.)
West Ham United - 0
West Ham got the game underway, and the first forward move for Palace saw Andy Johnson caught offside. Julian Gray and AJ linked well, but a perfectly timed tackle by Tomas Repka foiled the move, and following heavy tackles by Michael on Joel McAnuff, then Tony Popovic on David Connolly, the referee produced the first of many yellow cards, booking Tony. Repka took the resulting free kick, but the ball sailed harmlessly to Nico Vaesen, once again in the Palace goal, and he played it out to Wayne Routledge. Wayne, in turn, tried to get the ball through to Dougie, but our striker was marginally offside, and the move broke down.
Julian put in a good cross from the left, and as Dougie made a play for the ball Christian Dailly just managed to get a foot in the way to effect the clearance. Tony gave the ball away to Mullins, who played it to Marlon Harewood, and though the Palace fans shouted for offside, it was not given. He in turn forced a corner following good defence by Danny Granville, and as the ball was swung in Harewood just failed to get his head to it, and it was cleared from our danger area.
Repka was then guilty of a poor foul on AJ, just as he had got free, and the second yellow card appeared for the afternoon, this time to the West Ham man. The free kick saw Michael cross into the centre, and it was Julian that got on the end of it, his header dropping just nicely for Paul Srnicek in the West Ham goal, just in advance of AJ, as he went for the ball. Harewood won another corner that was cleared by Mark Hudson, reportedly playing his final game for Palace before he was due to head back off to Fulham, and Nico collected the next ball, which was played in by Mullins.
Another foul by Repka, this time on Dougie resulted in Michael taking a quick free kick, but the ball was overplayed, and Julian was unable to get on the end of the cross. Nigel Reo-Coker tried a sharp shot on goal that, fortunately, sailed over the top of the bar. And up at the other end AJ was brought down by Jon Harley, the free kick once again being cleared. It appeared this might be a match between two solid defensive sides. AJ then won a corner, but as Wayne's cross came in it was easily claimed by the keeper, and as the ball raced down the other end danger was on hand for Palace until Mark robbed McAnuff, just in the nick of time.
Harley sent the ball back in, and Harewood rose above the defence to head the ball goalwards, but fortunately Nico was in just the right spot to avert the danger, then Tony had to send the ball behind for a corner as it almost found Harewood unmarked in the centre.
The corner led to AJ making a break, but he was again scythed down for his troubles, and as McAnuff fouled Julian yet another free kick was awarded to Palace. Michael took this one, and as the ball came to AJ he was well dealt with by the defence, and though the ball eventually fell to Danny G it was Connolly that came in with a very late tackle, and the next yellow card appeared. This one, though, was to prove very costly shortly after, as will be seen.
Julian won a corner for Palace, but again the chance was wasted as more niggling fouls came, from both sides of the pitch. Shortly after though a very poor tackle by Connolly on Danny Butterfield led to his second yellow of the afternoon, and he was automatically off for an early bath leaving our visitors a long time to play with only 10 men. Somehow, to add insult to injury, Mullins managed to get himself booked, presumably for his remonstrations with the referee over the incident.
The free kick was advanced 10 yards, and play continued, though the next action saw Harewood caught offside and then Dougie guilty of handling the ball in the area before Repka brought AJ down once more, and the crowd held their collective breath, wondering if a second man for the visitors might be sent off. It did not happen though and the next piece of action saw Reo-Coker losing out to Tony, who made a fine tackle to stop the West Ham man.
Four minutes was added on for first half injuries/stoppages before Dailly found the ball in an obvious offside position, but the flags stayed down, and we were all relieved to see it blasted well over the top of the bar. Harewood then got free, his shot going wide of the mark, and just to show we were not going to be outdone Danny B fired a shot at goal that the keeper spilt at the first attempt, but he quickly regathered, before anyone else could strike.
The half came to an end following those three golden opportunities, and the sides marched off all locked up just as they had started - 0-0. Iain Dowie was seen to have words with Harewood as the sides left, though it was later revealed that they were merely arguing the validity of the sending off incident. Just what repercussions there might be from this remains to be seen, as we await any report of the incident from the match referee. Iain would certainly have been pleased with the general defensive effort, apart maybe from those two late chances, but he would have been asking a little more from the attacking options in the second half of the play.
Palace kicked off in the second half, and shortly after Dougie found AJ in the box, but his attempt on goal was too weak and the West Ham defence cleared the effort. Harley took a run down the side of the pitch, but Danny B tackled well, leaving him dead in his tracks. Mark tackled Harewood conceding a free kick, which was taken by Harley, Nico pulling off an easy save to deny the Hammers strikers. Julian tried to get round Dailly, but the West Ham man conceded a corner, and as the ball was played in by Julian, Harley managed a good clearance as Danny G shaped to tuck the ball home. West Ham gave away another corner, but the defence cleared that effort, and played continued still all locked up.
Danny B got a good cross in to Wayne, but once again the defence cleared the chance, and then Michael got a great cross in that Julian looked destined to score from, only to see Dailly get a clearing header to again avert the danger. A cross into the centre by Julian was punched clear by the keeper before AJ was caught offside once more. Palace decided, at this stage, to make a change to the line-up, bringing Shaun Derry on for a somewhat subdued Aki Riihilahti.
AJ got the ball through to Dougie who played the ball neatly on to Julian, the defence just managing to clear the ball before danger struck, but the next move saw a break in the deadlock, as AJ got on the end of Shaun's corner, flicked the ball on to Dougie, and the Scot duly tapped the ball home, courtesy of his knee. 1-0, finally, and it appeared that would be all that was needed to settle the game.
Julian went close with the next effort, as West Ham decided it was time for changes of their own, bringing on Bobby Zamora for McAnuff and shortly after Chris Cohen for Harley. Another corner to Palace saw the keeper punch the ball clear once more, and as Dougie played the ball in once more AJ really should have scored, the keeper managing to get his legs in the way of the goalward bound shot. Wayne then played AJ in, the result being the same, in a one-on-one with the keeper the West Ham managed once more to get his legs in the way of the strike.
AJ appeared to have been brought down by Srnicek, but the referee thought there was a bit of play-acting by the Palace man, and if this was the case he was probably lucky to escape a booking of his own. West Ham made their final substitution, this time taking off Reo-Coker, and bringing on Brian Deane. A corner to West Ham was well cleared by the defence, and as AJ ran up the field Wayne was flagged offside, even though the ball was not played through to him.
Julian made a run down the length of the pitch, only to be brought down by Cohen, and again the referee added a name to his book, brandishing his yellow card once more. The free kick was taken by Michael, who sent it back to Wayne, and he in turn tried a powerful shot from well out of the area. The keeper managed to knock the ball up, but Danny G played it back in and Julian was on hand to tap the ball into the back of the net. As the roar went up around the ground a late decision showed us Julian was considered to be offside, and we were back to the original scoreline of 1-0.
Mark was fouled by Zamora, and following a huge flare-up of tempers the sides were eventually calmed down, the only name going in the book this time being that of Zamora. Palace took Dougie off, replacing him with Mikele Leigertwood, and his first action was to stop an attack up the centre of the park. Zamora was again guilty of a foul, this time on Nico, thus relieving the pressure on the Palace goal, and the board went up to signify three minutes of time to be added on.
Anton Ferdinand sent in a cross that Nico held at the first attempt, and presumably in an effort to wind the clock down a little more Palace made their final change of the afternoon, this time replacing AJ with Tom. As West Ham set off once more to our end of the ground the ball ran out of play before the attack could arrive, and the final whistle sounded to give Palace a very valuable three points.
Not a very pretty game, but it is always going to be hard when the opposition come for a point, and play any tactics to achieve that aim. Palace should, maybe, have done better against a 10-man side, but often it is the numerically disadvantaged side that takes the points. Iain, the Palace connections, and most importantly the Palace supporters, would have been pleased with this result, and we now all look forward to the weekend and the visit of Wigan Athletic. Another three points, anyone?
Colin Pryce
Crystal Palace: Nico Vaesen, Danny Granville, Danny Butterfield, Tony Popovic, Mark Hudson, Wayne Routledge, Aki Riihilahti (Shaun Derry 63), Michael Hughes, Julian Gray, Andrew Johnson (Tom Soares 90), Dougie Freedman (Mikele Leigertwood 83).
Substitutes not used: Tommy Black, Cedric Berthelin.
West Ham United: Paul Srnicek, Christian Dailly, Anton Ferdinand, Jon Harley (Chris Cohen 72), Hayden Mullins, Nigel Reo-Coker (Brian Deane 78), Tomas Repka, Kevin Horlock, Joel McAnuff (Bobby Zamora 67), David Connolly, Marlon Harewood.
Substitutes not used: David Forde, Brian Melville.
Attendance: 23,977
Referee: Mr A Bates