Barnsley - 2 (Barnard 44. Sheron 63.)
Crystal Palace - 3 (Rodger 24. Austin 59. Bradbury 74.)

This match could almost have been a Palace reunion. With Bruce Dyer failing a late fitness test, Neil Shipperley was still there to greet us, along with our old manager Dave Bassett. That none of them figured significantly in the match was very much to the credit of the young Palace side that took the field in pouring rain, with thunder and lightening lurking in the background. The loss of this match by Barnsley meant that though they were far more favoured both in this match and for promotion at the end of the season, they are now propping up the rest of the table.

Very little action was evident at the start of the game, mainly due to the atrocious conditions, but as the sun poked its' way out of the clouds a mix up in the home side's penalty area saw keeper Tony Bullock miss the ball, and Simon Rodger was on hand to scramble the ball home from right in front of the goal. Darren Barnard missed an easy opportunity to bring the game back to level terms, and it began to look as though we would go to the break with a one goal advantage.

Of course, we didn't.

The hero of the first half turned into the villain, when Simon was judged to have brought down Craig Hignett in the area. Despite our management's protests the referee pointed to the spot, and unlike Lee Bradbury's miss of last week Darren Barnard duly put the spot kick away. There was only a minute left on the clock at this stage, and without further ado the teams went to the break all locked up at 1-1.

The first chance of the second half fell to the home team when Kevin Richardson found Robin Van Der Laan unmarked, but his header went straight to Fraser Digby. Though the pressure was on the visitors a well flighted corner taken by Simon found Dean Austin, who made no mistake, heading the ball firmly into the back of the net.

We were once again ahead, but before we even really had time to celebrate the home side showed that they were not done for yet. A free kick was taken quickly by Hignett who sent the ball to Mike Sheron. Despite the ball hitting the bar and falling to the ground the assistant referee indicated that the ball had crossed the line. The referee reversed his original decision of play on, and awarded the goal.

Further protests from the visiting bench led to Vic Bettinelli being "requested" to leave the bench before play was resumed! Two disputed goals meant that the teams were once again back on level terms with everything left to play for. Palace were certainly not in the mood to be denied this time around though, and with some 15 minutes left on the clock Clinton Morrison chased the ball all the way to the line.

His effort was rewarded when he managed to cross the ball across the face of the goal, and this time Lee Bradbury was on hand to simply side foot the ball into the back of the net. This time there was no coming back for the home team, and the match finished with a well deserved win to the Eagles. "Harry" looks as though he may have a hard job achieving his eighth promotion with a Barnsley side that has already conceded 8 goals in three matches inside a week. Meanwhile let's hope that Palace go from strength to strength. Third in the League looks pretty good to all Palace supporters, but First looks even better.

In order for the side to make it to First though, we will have to find some way to stop leaking as many goals ourselves. Whilst the strike force is doing their job up front this is not such a major worry, but in this department we really need a few goals from young Clinton. The rest of the team chipping in has alleviated this situation, though we must really look to the defence for a better showing in the matches to come.

Still, two points per match will usually get a team promoted, so I will happily settle for the same results over the next couple of League games.

Colin Pryce

Barnsley: Tony Bullock, Matty Appleby, Kevin Richardson (Nicky Eadie 63), Adrian Moses, Scott Jones, Craig Hignett, Neil Shipperley (Georgi Hristov 84), Darren Barnard, Mike Sheron (Martin Bullock 83), Robin Van Der Laan, Kevin Austin.

Substitutes not used: Eric Tinkler, Richard Siddall.

Crystal Palace: Fraser Digby, Jamie Smith, Dean Austin (Richard Harris 89), Hayden Mullins, Andy Linighan David Woozley (Jamie Hibburt 72), Andrew Frampton, Steve Thomson, Simon Rodger, Lee Bradbury (Mattias Svensson 80), Clinton Morrison.

Substitutes not used: Matthew Gregg, Nick Rizzo.

Attendance: 14,461

Referee: Mr W.C. Burns (Scarborough)