Crystal Palace - 0
Bolton Wanderers - 2 (Marshall 12. Summerbee 68.)

Another game that Palace needed maximum points from that saw them once again get beaten, and they also failed to score a goal. Admittedly Bolton were also desperate to take home the points as it maintained their push for an automatic promotion spot, but surely Palace must do better than this in the remaining matches if they are to have any chance of staying in this division.

Blackburn had won earlier in the day, putting the pressure on Bolton to stay in touch, but really Alan Smith must come up with a way of stopping the opposition from scoring such soft goals. Of course, Alan will probably argue that it is the responsibility of the defenders to stop the moves on goal, but I was always taught that the "buck stops here", particularly when you get to the top of the tree!

To add to our woes, of course, the attack is no longer putting goals away in a consistent fashion, and with a lack of confidence shown by Alex Kolinko the team seems in dire straits. Sacking Alan is, most likely, not the answer.

The game started out with Dean Holdsworth guiding his shot wide of the mark, and then Dougie Freedman hit the crossbar. Unfortunately it only took until the 12th minute for Bolton to break the deadlock. Gudni Bergsson hit a great shot that Alex did well to parry, but Ian Marshall was on hand to simply head the ball home from close range, leaving the Palace defence stunned that such an easy move had paid off for the visitors. Clinton Morrison then hit a long-range effort that the keeper did well to save. Maintaining the pressure, shots from Clinton, Dougie Freedman and Hayden Mullins were adequately defended before Bolton threatened again. Holdsworth put in a fine shot that Alex did well to save, but a couple of corners certainly added to the misgivings in the Palace hearts.

With 10 minutes left before the break Palace once again went forward in numbers, and a free kick taken by Fan Zhiyi almost ended in the back of the net, Matt Clarke doing well to turn it round to concede a corner, but not a goal. Andrejs Rubins played some good football that came to naught, with Colin Hendry looking particularly good in the heart of the Bolton defence.

Bolton almost stole a second just before the break when a cross from Nicky Summerbee found Ricardo Gardner, his header going wide of the goalmouth. The late pressure though from Palace would have seen the visitors leave for the break thankful that they had held on to their slender lead.

Palace managed to keep the pressure up for the start of the second period of play, but the standard of defence displayed by the visitors must have had Alan Smith green with envy. Holdsworth and Gardner missed good chances to put the game beyond the Eagles, but poor finishing and good keeping from Alex kept the damage to a minimum. The second goal was looming though.

A cross from Gareth Farrelly went sailing over the area somewhat harmlessly, but Summerbee was on the other side of the goal. His cross back somehow got away from Alex, and to our dismay we were suddenly two goals down, and there appeared to be no way back.

This appearance was to prove correct, for there was very little to report about the rest of the match, other than a couple of substitutions, which had little effect on the game.

Man of the match on the Palace side was almost certainly Aki Riihilahti, who worked tirelessly throughout the match, but for everyone's money the outstanding player on the pitch on the day was without a doubt Colin Hendry. As Alan Smith said after the match, Hendry was the epitome of a defender doing his job, but surely Alan we should have had the ability to sign players such as Hendry during the early part of the season?

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Alex Kolinko, Jamie Smith (Tommy Black 52), Dean Austin, Fan Zhiyi, Craig Harrison, Aki Riihilahti, David Hopkin, Andrejs Rubins (Mikael Forssell 70), Hayden Mullins, Clinton Morrison, Dougie Freedman.

Substitutes not used: Simon Rodger, Gregg Berhalter, Ricardo Fuller.

Bolton Wanderers: Matt Clarke, Gudni Bergsson, Paul Warhurst, Colin Hendry, Anthony Barness, Nicky Summerbee, Gareth Farrelly, Ricardo Gardner, Simon Charlton, Ian Marshall (Per Frandsen 85), Dean Holdsworth (Michael Ricketts 73).

Substitutes not used: Steve Banks, Leam Richardson, Andy Campbell.

Attendance: 16,268

Referee: Mr R Beeby (Northampton)