Norwich City - 0
Crystal Palace - 0

It is always a little difficult to write a report about a goalless draw, but when there only happens to be about one chance to score for either side it becomes even harder. Palace entered this match off the back of a hard fought win at home against Barnsley, but Norwich were also coming off a fine win away at Stockport County. Despite this Norwich were still looking for their first goal at Carrow Road, and Palace could at least boast that they had enjoyed success on their two previous encounters at the venue.

Both sides managed to field new strikers; in our case Paul Kitson took to the field, whilst Norwich had Tony Cottee in their line-up. As things transpired it was the two new players that had the only real chances on goal. That the defence won the day for both sides is beyond dispute, though the respective keepers had very little to do in order to earn their wages for the day.

To be fair, the best chance of the match fell to Cottee. Neil Ruddock was dispossessed by Iwan Roberts who put in a perfect pass that found Cottee. His shot on goal was rushed due to the spoiling play displayed by Dean Austin, causing him to blast his shot over the bar. Any remaining shots on goal by Norwich were limited to long-range efforts that barely had the sting to wake Stuart Taylor in goal.

It took until fifteen minutes of the second half for Palace to put a shot in on the target when Hayden Mullins put in a shot from a fair range that caused Andy Marshall into a reflexive save, then Clinton Morrison flicked the ball into the area, finding Kitson lurking in a reasonable position. Unfortunately he messed up the shot, emulating Cottee's effort by blasting the ball over the bar, leaving the scores all locked up, and the scorers untroubled.

The match then went on without any further attempts on goal, and the Carrow Road faithful went home by far the unhappiest of the two sets of supporters, still waiting for that first elusive home goal. Palace would have been pleased with having wrested a point from the match, and will now look forward to making amends for their defeat against Burnley when they meet them in the Cup on Tuesday.

Colin Pryce

Norwich City: Andy Marshall, Daryl Sutch, Fernando Derveld, Craig Fleming, Brian McGovern, Lee Marshall, Jim Whitley (Raymond De Waard 63), Darel Russell, Steen Nedergaard (Adrian Forbes 45), Iwan Roberts, Tony Cottee (Gaetano Giallanza 75).

Substitutes not used: Robert Green, Malcolm Mackay.

Crystal Palace: Stuart Taylor, Dean Austin, Fan Zhiyi, Neil Ruddock, Hayden Mullins, Clinton Morrison, Tommy Black, Julian Gray (Leon McKenzie 74), Jamie Pollock, Craig Harrison, Paul Kitson.

Substitutes not used: Andy Linighan, Richard Harris, Steve Evans, Mikael Forssell.

Attendance: 16,828

Referee: Mr U Rennie (Sheffield).