Crystal Palace - 3 (Morrison 4. 64. Freedman 87.)
Gillingham - 1 (Onuora 30.)

Palace entered this match looking for revenge for the 3-0 thrashing they received at Priestfield Stadium, and for their third League win in a row. Gillingham, of course, were looking to bridge the points gap between us, and a win would have brought them to within a couple of points of the Eagles.

The visitors got the game away through Marcus Browning, and the first attacking raid came from Iffy Onuora, but he was well seen off by the Palace defence. Dougie Freedman played Clinton Morrison in well, but his shot was well snuffed out by Vince Bartram in the visitor's goal. Simon Osborn, another ex-Palace player, took a free kick that Palace quickly won back through Aki Riihilahti. His touch to Julian Gray was centered and Clinton was on hand to simply tap the ball home from close range. The amount of space he was afforded was certainly encouraging, and all Palace fans hoped that it would continue this way for the rest of the evening.

Clinton very nearly made it 2-0 just moments later, when once again he found himself in plenty of space, but his shot went across the face of goal, and calmly away to safety. Onuora was caught offside; which made a change from our players being caught that way. Trevor Benjamin made good ground on the left, and his shot skimmed past the post. Another goal there would almost have closed the game out before it had started.

Another cross from Osborn failed to find an attacking Gillingham player, and then a couple of free kicks to Palace were wasted as we tried to press home our advantage. A corner to the Gills was well cut out by Alex Kolinko, who once again managed to keep Matt Clarke idle on the bench. A good cross from Julian just failed to find Dougie, and then good play from Hayden Mullins and Danny Granville almost played Trevor into a good position, the move just failing at the last moment.

Aki played Clinton in, but his attempted lob of the keeper went just wide of the goalmouth, and out of play for a goal kick. Onuora put a header out of play, instead of into the back of the net, and Palace continued to press forward. Dougie tried a couple of times to get clear, one cheeky attempt to lob the keeper almost coming off.

Dougie set up Clinton again, but Barry Ashby did well to hold the Palace attacker out of the area. Just as things seemed to be going so well for Palace the wheels suddenly fell off. Onuora played a shot that hit the post, completely wrong-footing Alex, and the ball ran agonisingly along the line, and edged its' way into the back of the goalmouth. The scores were level once again.

Marlon King then almost immediately made it 2-1, but Alex managed to get a faint touch on the ball that sent it crashing onto the bar, and away to safety. Osborn then took a "shot" at goal from fully 40 yards, but it never even looked close!

A good run from defence by Curtis Fleming nearly got Dougie into a good position, but the move broke down at the last moment, and mass defending from Gillingham was starting to pay off. Without any further real attempts on goal the sides trooped off at the whistle, and one can only assume that the visiting manager would have been far more pleased with the situation than would have been the manager sitting in our dug-out for the first 45 minutes.

Jamie Smith came on for Trevor at the start of the second half, so we were now back to a more traditional looking side, with only two players in a recognized attacking formation. A shot from well out by Paul Smith was well dealt with by Alex, but despite pressure at the other end, mostly from Dougie, things were just not falling into place for the Eagles tonight.

Clinton then found himself offside once more in this match, and goodness knows how many times that makes this season (I wonder if anyone keeps stats on things like that - I feels sure someone must). Guy Ipoua replaced Onuora, and Jamie got a good ball forward, but the move was hacked away by Paul Shaw. Aki played in Clinton, but his touch to Dougie went astray, and then Julian made a good run, but he was well dealt with by the defence.

Hayden then decided it was time to try his luck, and a classy shot from 30 yards out was unfortunate to hit the bar and bounce away to safety; a shot such as that really deserved better. Even so Dougie nearly got on the end of the rebound, but his shot was weak, and the chance went begging. Alex sent a clearance upfield, but the Palace attack was unable to get a player on the end of what appeared to be a fine centering ball.

Of course, there really had to be another goal in this match, and though neither side looked like scoring, or even coming really close to breaching the defence of the other side, when it did come it was one of the more comical moves seen all season, in any match. A good ball in by Dougie needed only a simple tap-in by Clinton, but as he went to take the shot he fell, and ended up sitting down in front of goal. The ball did make contact with him, but only with the studs on the bottom of his boot; even so there was sufficient momentum on the ball to see it trickle across the line to break the deadlock in the match.

So, 2-1, and though it may well be the "worst" goal that Clinton will score all season, he will, I am sure, gladly take the credit for the touch! A free kick to Palace saw Danny fire in a cross that Kit just failed to get on the end of, and suddenly the crowd was willing Clinton on to his hat-trick, his shot going across the face of the goal, and failing to go over the line, clearing the post instead for a goal kick. Palace continued the pressure, forcing a corner that saw yet another effort from Clinton going astray, and Julian attempted a shot that went well wide of the mark.

Ty Gooden came on for Marcus Browning, but this seemed to result in little if any change in Gillingham's attempts on the hosts' goalmouth. A free kick to Palace was well dealt with by the Gills keeper, and then a rare corner to the visitors fell harmlessly behind the goal for a kick to Palace. Alex then needed to be alert, and had to race to the edge of his area to keep a dangerous looking cross out. His clearance found Dougie, but Clinton's attempt on goal went astray, and the status quo was maintained.

Despite the pressure it was starting to look as if we would have to be content with a 2-1 scoreline, always assuming the side were able to maintain their lead, but Dougie had different ideas. Having started the game equal on goals scored with Clinton, he had managed to fall two behind in this game, and he was determined to at least claw back part of that advantage. Simon Rodger, a late substitute for Julian, took a corner for Palace, and though the chance was cleared by the defence it came back in again through Jamie, and the ball found Dougie who simply clipped it into the back of the net to seal the victory for Palace.

Four minutes of injury time did very little to change the outcome of the match, and the final whistle went without any more real chances on goal at either end. We now look forward to the visit of Rotherham United next Saturday, and hopefully a continuance of our recent mini-revival.

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Alex Kolinko, Hayden Mullins, Tony Popovic, Kit Symons, Curtis Fleming, Aki Riihilahti, Julian Gray (Simon Rodger 85), Danny Granville, Dougie Freedman, Trevor Benjamin (Jamie Smith 45), Clinton Morrison.

Substitutes not used: David Hopkin, Jovan Kirovski, Matt Clarke.

Gillingham: Vince Bartram, Chris Hope, Barry Ashby, Paul Smith, Nayron Nosworthy, Paul Shaw, Marcus Browning (Ty Gooden 74), Simon Osborn, Marlon King, Iffy Onuora (Guy Ipoua 51), David Perpetuini (Mark Patterson 80).

Substitutes not used: Guy Butters, Mark Saunders.

Attendance: 17,646

Referee: Mr F Stretton