Crystal Palace - 1 (Granville 79.)
Wigan Athletic - 1 (Ellington 45.)

Another six-pointer arrived, and though Palace have done well of late, the wheels were bound to drop off sometime. A point rescued though may be we all we need come playoff time, but we more desperately need the three points against Sunderland on Wednesday night now.

Palace kicked off in this game, having restored captain Neil Shipperley to the side, at the expense of last time scorer Dougie Freedman, who went back to the bench. Wayne Routledge made the first forward move, but Jason De Vos was equal to the task, and he coolly took the ball away from him. Wayne tried again, but he delayed his pass just a little too long and the move broke down once again. Still, third time lucky, he thought, and this time he managed to get a corner, as the ball bounced away off the ever-present Leighton Baines. Wayne took the kick, short to Julian Gray, and on receiving the ball back he crossed for the centre, but Jason Roberts was on hand to clear the danger.

Jimmy Bullard got free, but as he was about to cross into the middle of the park, who was there to put in the tackle? Wayne, of course, back in a flash to help out the defence. Julian got a pass in to Danny Granville, but the return pass was lacking, and the move broke down, whilst at the other end Michael Hughes was guilty of a foul on Jason Jarrett, before another foul, this time by Michael again on Nathan Ellington, led to a free kick in a dangerous area for Palace. Bullard took the kick, but it flew straight to Nico Vaesen in the Palace goal, and we all breathed a little easier once again.

Wayne employed a little of his magical trickery, by flicking the ball over the heads of two opposition players, but his pass to Julian was too long, and the opportunity went begging. Michael was late on a tackle, this time against Ian Breckin, and though the referee spoke quite sternly to him the dreaded yellow card never made an appearance. Aki Riihilahti tried a pass to Julian that went astray, and had he but looked Wayne was in space, and could really have run at the defence had the ball been sent his way.

Julian nearly found Neil at the back post, but the defence muscled him off the ball, and at the other end Danny Butterfield did well to keep out a cross from Alan Mahon. Andy Johnson made a good run, beating the defence, before he put in a great cross that just eluded Julian as he made his way in to the far post, and shortly after Neil got the ball to Julian, his pass was just too strong for AJ, and Michael was unable to leap high enough to get his head to the ball - almost a certain goal gone there.

Breckin fouled Wayne, but the free kick was wasted when Tony Popovic tried to head the ball to another Palace player, when he would have been better advised to have gone for goal himself. Danny B put in a cross that Neil flicked on to Julian, his shot going high over the bar, unfortunately.

Two corners in a row fell to Palace, but the result was a very high shot from Wayne at the edge of the area, causing the Wigan keeper little trouble, other than to watch it sail harmlessly over. Baines was injured, and a replacement was made, Paul Mitchell taking the field, just as Julian got free, but he tried a shot when he should have passed to Danny G, who had a better shot on goal.

Aki tried a long range shot that blazed over the top once more, and at the other end Danny G dispossessed Andy Liddell, just as he looked about to strike on goal. Aki then became the first name in the book, for a late foul on Jarrett, and the resulting free kick was played by Mahon, Nico Vaesen managing to just tip it away for a corner. From that Mahon hit the top of the bar, but the ball bounced away to safety, and the fourth official signalled two minutes of added on time.

That, unfortunately, was all that Wigan needed to open the scoring. Ellington got free on the right, and though Nico seemed to have the shot covered it took a deflection from the foot of Mark Hudson, who was back playing for Palace for one extra match pending a possible permanent move from Fulham, and the ball looped into the back of the net, giving Nico little chance of stopping it.

With that the half time whistle sounded, and Palace went in for a pep talk that we all hoped would turn round our fortunes in the second half. I had a terrible feeling that the solitary goal scored, would, like the West Ham game, turn out to be the final scoreline, but when I mentioned this to a friend of mine in the break, he simply said - You are wrong! I can tell you now - I'm glad he was right!

Wigan kicked off in the second half, playing towards the Whitehorse End, and the action was similar to the first half play, as De Vos cut out a through ball destined for AJ. A corner to Palace was fired in by Julian, and Mark chested the ball down before firing a shot wide of the mark.

The first few minutes brought a couple of free kicks, but little threat to either end before Danny B got a cross in to AJ who fired from about 12 yards out, but the shot went over the top. Palace made a change to their line-up, replacing Aki with Shaun Derry, and then De Vos was booked for a foul on Michael just as he looked as if he might get free. Michael took the kick, but it went straight to John Filan in the Wigan goal. Julian then got the ball back to AJ, and this time he beat the keeper, the ball hit the inside of the post, and for some inexplicable reason it bounced safely away, instead of the normal reaction of crossing over the line for a goal.

Wigan decided that was just a little too close, and they made a change, replacing Liddell with Gary Teale. A corner to our visitors was played in by Mahon, but Shaun was on hand to knock it back out. Unfortunately it fell to Ellington, but his header went over the top, and shortly after Roberts set off, but fouled Shaun in the process. He would, most likely, have got away with just a free kick, but that wonderful habit of professional footballers got him into trouble. Backchatting the referee never, ever, works, and he was duly booked.

The referee, as they always seem to do these days, moved the free kick forward the obligatory 10 yards, and then we saw first Julian given offside, and then Ellington called for the same offence. Julian's was certainly not offside, and Ellington's was marginal at best. Palace decided to make their second change, this time Danny B making way for Dougie. Obviously we had now switched from 4-4-2 to 3-4-3, giving us a sharper attacking edge, hopefully not too much to the detriment of the defence.

Wigan made a change shortly after, substituting Mahon for Lee McCulloch, but the next action brought about the moment the Palace faithful had been waiting for. Wayne sent in a great cross, Danny rose at the post, and though Filan clawed the ball back (had it crossed the line?) Danny fired it back in once more to bury it in the back of the net. If it was not a goal the first time it certainly was the second time.

Jarrett was booked for pushing Dougie over, and shortly after AJ got the ball across goal only to see Neil just fail to convert the chance. McCulloch was then booked for a foul on Shaun and then Neil was pushed over by De Vos, simply resulting in a free kick this time. From that Michael played the ball short to Danny, and looking for his second of the afternoon he was unlucky to see Filan tip the ball over the top for a corner. The corner was wasted.

The game was stopped as Tony reacted to an elbow by Roberts, and after clearing the air, the referee booked both players. The trouble was Roberts was already on a yellow card, and thus with only minutes to go he was sent from the field, reducing the visiting side to 10 men. Nico took the free kick, but as Dougie moved for the ball Jarrett tripped him, and thus he also received a second yellow card, and joined Roberts on the sidelines. Down to nine, but time was fast running out. Within moments the final whistle sounded, and both sides had to settle for a solitary point.

I guess Palace can still, at least, say that no team has "done the double" over them, meaning have beaten them both at home and away, but we will need to be at our best to ensure that Sunderland do not achieve this come next Wednesday evening.

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Nico Vaesen, Danny Granville, Danny Butterfield (Dougie Freedman 75), Tony Popovic, Mark Hudson, Wayne Routledge, Aki Riihilahti (Shaun Derry 64), Michael Hughes, Julian Gray, Andrew Johnson, Neil Shipperley.

Substitutes not used: Tommy Black, Cedric Berthelin, Mikele Leigertwood.

Wigan Athletic: John Filan, Nicky Eaden, Ian Breckin, Jason De Vos, Leighton Baines (Paul Mitchell 34), Andy Liddell (Gary Teale 66), Jimmy Bullard, Jason Jarrett, Alan Mahon (Lee McCulloch 78), Nathan Ellington, Jason Roberts.

Substitutes not used: Gary Welsh, Gareth Farrelly.

Attendance: 18,799

Referee: Mr M Thorpe