Nottingham Forest - 0
Crystal Palace - 3 (Forssell 19. 45. Freedman 68.)

Following our recent successes in the various Cup matches this match always looked as though it might be a problem for us. Forest are currently vying for a position in at least the playoffs, whilst we are in the unenviable position of being only three points away from the bottom team. There was a lot of talk about who would play in this match, with Tommy Black being given an almost sure-fire starting slot and Neil Ruddock having no chance of even making the bench. Alan Smith, as usual, proved us all wrong by starting with Neil, and Tommy did not even manage to get off the bench for the whole match. That his choices were wise was reflected in the scoreline, and even the Nottingham Forest commentators were impressed with Neil's performance on the day. So were many of the other Palace supporters who had written him off. Considering that Neil is the player who we at CPISA have chosen to sponsor for this year we were more than pleased to see him get a start, and even gladder that he put in such a sterling performance which should stand him in good stead for at least the next few games. His experience will be sorely needed in the upcoming Cup games.

Palace kicked off in this match, and to say it was all one-way traffic would be an understatement. Forest were consistently attacking our goal, but the final touch was letting them down, and gradually we came more into the match. Jermaine Jenas was the first to hit a shot in anger, his effort hitting the crossbar with a sound that reverberated around the stadium. David Johnson, Forest's new £3.5m signing, then hit his shot straight at Alex Kolinko in goal, and as the game wore on many of the Palace supporters wondered why Forest had spent so much money on one player. Given time it is clear that once he regains full match fitness he will be a threat to many Clubs at this level. Riccardo Scimeca was then unlucky when his shot at goal hit one of his own players and bounced harmlessly away from the danger area.

Palace made their first move on goal courtesy of a scintillating run down the left by Andrejs Rubins, who fired in a great cross that Clinton Morrison narrowly failed to find the target with. However, having soaked up the pressure for the first quarter of an hour or so, a good forward move found Mikael Forssell just outside the area. He managed to elude his marker and fired a left footed shot into the bottom right hand corner of the net as Dave Beasant, the keeper, dived across the face of goal in vain. 1-0 to the Eagles, and it started to look as if that was the way it would stay until the break. Our attack had other ideas though.

Chris Bart-Williams showed just a little too much of the ball to Clinton Morrison, who raced away clear into the area of the Forest goal. In an unselfish move he drew the keeper then squared the ball for Mikael to add his second of the afternoon. Had it been more than about 5 seconds later it would never have counted, as that was about all that was left of first half injury time.

David Platt suddenly had a different problem on his hands. Having gone to the dressing room expecting to be 1-0 down, and presumably having a speech in mind to fire the players up for the second half, he now had a completely different scenario to contend with. 2-0 is a lot harder to come back from.

Not all that surprisingly the second half started much the same as the first period of play. The chances for Forest were coming thick and fast, but still they lacked that finishing touch. Stern John probably went closest, his header hitting the bar and bouncing safely away, though it really looked as if they would score at any moment.

In what turned out to be a masterstroke Alan Smith substituted Clinton Morrison for Forest old boy Dougie Freedman, and within five minutes the move had paid dividends. Andrejs chased the ball deep down the left side of the field, and beating the defence he crossed smartly towards the goalmouth. The keeper tried to intercept the ball at the near post, but missed and Dougie Freedman made a great run to the far post and slotted the ball home into the back of the unguarded net.

Despite the fact that the match was all sewn up there was still more than 20 minutes to go in the match. As is often the case the home supporters started to make their early exit from the ground (it happens with all teams - what a waste of the admission price!) and they would have missed the one final chance that came from their players. Stern John made a good move on goal, but once again his final touch let him down leaving Alex with little to do other than mop up.

A 3-0 victory was probably no more than we deserved on the day, but simply proves what can be achieved when you have the confidence to take your chances when they present themselves. This performance should have given the players the needed boost for the match coming up against Sunderland next Wednesday in the FA Cup replay. I wonder if the bookies will be so generous this time round? If they are perhaps Palace might be worth a few bob? Is it possible to have a bet each-way?

Colin Pryce

Nottingham Forest: Dave Beasant, Gareth Edds, Chris Bart-Williams, Tony Vaughan, Francis Benali, Jermaine Jenas (David Freeman 68), Gareth Williams, Riccardo Scimeca (John Stern 32), Andy Reid, Gary Jones, David Johnson.

Substitutes not used: Barry Roche, Jim Brennan, Colin Calderwood.

Crystal Palace: Alex Kolinko, Jamie Smith, Dean Austin, Neil Ruddock, Hayden Mullins, Craig Harrison, Steve Thomson (Jamie Pollock 52), Simon Rodger, Andrejs Rubins (Andrew Frampton 88), Clinton Morrison (Dougie Freedman 63), Mikael Forssell.

Substitutes not used: Matthew Gregg, Tommy Black.

Attendance: 21,198

Referee: Mr G Frankland (Middlesbrough).