Bolton Wanderers - 1 (Davies 45.)
Crystal Palace - 0

Crystal Palace went into this game on the back of a fair run of form, so the wheels were bound to fall off sometime. Fortunately they did not fall too far off. The first corner of the match fell to the home side, and skipper Gary Speed fired the ball into the centre, only to see Radhi Jaidi head the ball wide of the left upright. A few minutes later he missed to the other side of goal, and as El-Hadji Diouf played the ball back into our area Tony Popovic made a very crucial clearance.

A series of fouls ensued before Ivan Campo got a shot on goal, but he also missed the target, and Ben Watson took a free kick to Palace, but he merely managed to hit the wall, and the ball bounced safely away. A corner to Palace simply led to a goal kick, which Jussi Jaaskelainen duly took. Kevin Nolan then tried his luck, but his shot was well cleared by Fitz Hall.

Fitz also cleared the next incoming cross, and Emmerson Boyce dealt with the next, as Bolton kept up the pressure on our goal square, but a clash of heads involving Campo and Speed brought about a change, with Campo being replaced, by Henrik Pedersen, and Speed taking quite a while to get back to the field of play.

Bruno N'Gotty sent in a cross that was cleared by Ben before Diouf was caught offside to relieve the pressure on the Palace defence, if only momentarily. Wayne Routledge fired in a corner to Palace, and as Jaidi made the clearance Danny Granville was on hand to steer it back in, the keeper doing well to hold on to a dipping ball. Ben was booked for a foul on Diouf, the free kick being dealt with by Fitz, and shortly after Kevin Davies headed the ball over the top of the bar.

Stelios Giannakopoulos sent in a stinging shot that Gabor Kiraly did tremendously well to tip round the edge of the post, conceding a corner but saving a certain goal, and as the set piece came back in Nolan sent his header wide of the post once more. Michael Hughes sent forward a free kick to Palace, but Giannakopoulos got in another shot, or was it really a cross, and Gabor merely plucked the ball out of the air. Tony cleared the next cross, sent in by Pedersen, whilst at the other end Jaidi mopped up the danger for Bolton as Wayne sent a good looking cross into the area.

A corner to our hosts was punched clear by Gabor, and Fitz booted the ball further upfield to clear our lines for a while, but Giannakopoulos had another strike on goal, this time missing to the left of the upright. Speed had a shot that missed in the same manner, and as we entered the two minutes of injury time in the first half (which seemed very little considering the time spent in the head clash incident) N'Gotty crossed the ball in from a quickly taken free kick, and Davies headed the ball into the bottom corner of the goal before anyone could react in the Palace defence.

We had been hit, once again, with a last moment goal before the break, and the players really must concentrate on playing for the full 45 minutes (or 47, 48 or whatever the half might bring). Apart from that minor blip, Iain Dowie would have been generally pleased with the performance, and he would simply have been asking them to go out and get a goal back, so that we could at least come away from the Stadium with something to show for our efforts. Of course, Bolton may have had other ideas, but as things transpired neither side got what they presumably wished for at the break.

An early free kick to Palace in the second half saw Michael fire the ball at the keeper, and he could only fumble the ball straight back to Danny. His shot, unfortunately, hit the woodwork, and a golden chance went begging. Perhaps if an out and out striker had been standing there the result may have been a little different, but it is good to see our defenders getting forward, and being prepared to take their chances on goal.

Fitz tried a shot that the keeper had little trouble hanging on to before Pedersen had a shot that missed the target, resulting in a simple free kick for Palace. Andrew Johnson, who had seemed fairly quiet all game, was caught offside, and as Nicky Hunt played the ball back into our area Aki Riihilahti was on hand to clear the danger to our lines. Pedersen tried again, this time forcing Gabor to tip the ball round the post, and the resulting corer led to Speed firing in a shot that was well blocked by Emmerson.

Another corner to Bolton was taken by Speed, with Ben making the vital clearance, and Palace decided it was time for a change to the line-up, with Vassilios Lakis replacing Joonas Kolkka. Jaidi sent in a shot that was well blocked by Danny before Ricardo Gardner sent in a cross that was simply pulled down from the air by Gabor, jumping high amongst the attacking Bolton forwards. Palace then made another change, this time bringing on crowd favourite Dougie Freedman, the unfortunate player making way being Ben.

Aki made another clearance as the ball drifted back into our area, and shortly after Davies got another shot on goal, this time the ball passing harmlessly to the side of the upright, giving Gabor little to worry about. Bolton then decided to make their second change of the match, replacing Diouf with Khalilou Fadiga, and Palace decided on their final change, taking off Aki and bringing on Shaun Derry. Fitz got a shot on goal from a free kick that was sent in by Michael, but his shot went wide of the mark once more before Davies was booked for a foul on Fitz.

A foul by Jaidi on AJ saw Wayne fire in the free kick and Tony get his head to the ball, only to see his shot go wide once again, and unfortunately Dougie was caught offside to relieve the pressure on the home side, just as it looked as if we might be in with a chance of levelling up the scores. Pedersen tried another shot that went well wide of the woodwork and Nolan tried his luck, only to see Gabor claim the ball.

As we once again entered extra time, in this case some four minutes being added on, Bolton tried to run the clock down a little by replacing Nolan with Anthony Barness. Michael had a last gasp shot that was taken by the keeper, and the whistle sounded, leaving Palace rueing the fact that they had not managed to take at least a goal from the chances that they were presented with. Next week against West Bromwich Albion at Selhurst Park will, hopefully, see a little improvement, and with a bit of luck we will get the three points we need to stay in touch with the other teams around us.

Colin Pryce

Bolton Wanderers: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Ivan Campo (Henrik Pedersen 16), Nicky Hunt, Radhi Jaidi, Bruno N'Gotty, Ricardo Gardner, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Kevin Nolan (Anthony Barness 90), Gary Speed, Kevin Davies, El-Hadji Diouf (Khalilou Fadiga 77).

Substitutes not used: Andy Oakes, Les Ferdinand.

Crystal Palace: Gabor Kiraly, Emmerson Boyce, Danny Granville, Fitz Hall, Tony Popovic, Ben Watson (Dougie Freedman 69), Aki Riihilahti (Shaun Derry 79), Michael Hughes, Joonas Kolkka (Vassilios Lakis 61), Wayne Routledge, Andy Johnson.

Substitutes not used: Julian Speroni, Gonzalo Sorondo.

Attendance: 25,501

Referee: Mr N Barry