Crystal Palace - 1 (Morrison 1.)
Barnsley - 0

Things finally fell into place this afternoon for the young Palace side, though you would have wanted to be in your seat somewhat early if you did not wish to miss what turned out to be the only goal of the match. The game brought back to Selhurst Park ex-manager Dave "Harry" Bassett and perennially unpopular Kevin Miller. Kevin, of course, owes his unpopularity to the manner in which he walked out on the Club during the financial crisis, which certainly won him no friends in the Croydon community.

The match was barely underway when Neil Ruddock hit a long shot into the Barnsley penalty area. The ball eluded the defenders and Clinton Morrison was able to run on to the ball, wrong foot Miller, and simply sidefoot the ball into the back of the unprotected net. One minute gone, and we were already one goal up, and the way we played for the rest of the half we should certainly have added a number more to that tally.

Shortly after the opening salvo Tommy Black managed to totally mess up a shot on goal from close range, which was followed by Leon McKenzie forcing Miller into a top class save. Julian Gray then made a good move down the sideline, beautifully picking out Morrison once again in the area. Clinton somehow managed to sky the ball over the top from all of two yards out, and despite the chances presenting themselves with great regularity we seemed incapable of adding to the scoreline. Somehow one might have imagined that Barnsley were feeling sorry for us not managing to score, as Matt Appleby handled the ball in the area, and the referee, Mr Rejer, had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Morrison took this one for us, but it was the same story as previously, his simple tap being read well by Miller, who flung himself to the right and made an easy save, denying us a deserved doubling of the lead.

The first half came to an end with no further chances on goal, and it seemed hard to remember any worthwhile shot coming from the visitors during the whole forty-five minutes.

The introduction of Mike Sheron, and a change to the line-up seemed to bring more stability to the Barnsley side, though it must be admitted that Palace seemed more content to sit on their lead, and simply make moves on the break. Near the end Sheron had two good opportunities to bring the match back to an even keel, but Palace managed to hang on and pick up their first home win of the season.

Though this course of action is not recommended for the health of the Palace faithful, they all finally left the stadium, more than pleased with the final result, and looking forward to future matches now that the team seemed to have found their feet.

Saturday sees us visit Carrow Road, a venue at which we have won for the last two seasons. Let's hope the form continues into that match, and the side start to climb up the League ladder.

Alan was more than pleased with the display stating that the scoreline bore no resemblance to the superiority that the team showed throughout the match, but bemoaning the fact that the side still seems unable to finish off teams once they get on top. They really must learn to put away a few more of the chances that they manage to create if they wish to be in with a show of a top ten finish.

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Stuart Taylor, Dean Austin, Fan Zhiyi, Neil Ruddock, Hayden Mullins, Leon McKenzie (Mikael Forssell 79), Clinton Morrison, Tommy Black, Jamie Pollock, Craig Harrison, Julian Gray.

Substitutes not used: Wayne Carlisle, Richard Harris, Steve Evans, Steve Thomson.

Barnsley: Kevin Miller, Carl Regan, Matty Appleby (Mike Sheron 49), Mitch Ward, Adie Moses, Lee Jones, Neil Shipperley, Darren Barnard (Ian Woan 71), Antony Kay (Robbie Van Der Laan 65), Brian O'Callaghan, Chris Barker.

Substitutes not used: Leigh Walker, ? Dudgeon.

Attendance: 16,297

Referee: Mr P Rejer (Tipton).