Crystal Palace - 1 (Johnson 77.)
Manchester City - 2 (Anelka 55. 64.)

Crystal Palace had high hopes of a win in this fixture, but it was not to be, and so Iain Dowie is going to have to find some other way of garnering the points we so desperately need to claw our way off the bottom of the table. Still, we always knew this season was going to be tough, and we determined that we were going to enjoy it come what may, so here's looking forward to Christmas, when we are six or so places further up the table than we currently are.

Manchester City got this match underway, and within moments Danny Granville was caught offside. A foul by Sylvain Distin on Michael Hughes led to Mark Hudson taking the free kick that sailed just over the top of the bar. Jonathan Macken was then caught offside, the free kick being taken by Julian Speroni. The remainder of the first 10 minutes saw a series of fouls that led to little advantage for either side.

A handball incident against Macken led to yet another free kick to Palace, and finally the spate of fouls led to the referee, Mr Atkinson, taking exception to an incident involving Antoine Sibierski and Aki Riihilahti, the former being booked for unsporting behaviour. A cross into the centre by Andrew Johnson failed to find an attacking Palace player, and David James was left with the simple task of taking a goal kick.

A good-looking shot by Sibierski appeared to be goalmouth bound, but somehow Macken contrived to get in the way, and the shot rebounded to safety. Sandor Torghelle was then guilty of being caught offside, which led to a shot coming in from Macken that once again sailed over the top of the bar. Joey Barton then tried his luck, Julian making a good stop, before Nicolas Anelka headed the ball in the direction of the goal, Julian reacting well once again to deny the prolific City striker.

Claudio Reyna fired a shot in that missed to the right of the upright, and Fitz Hall ended up as the second name in the book for the afternoon for his foul on Barton. Macken tried yet again, Julian once more holding on well to the ball. A corner to Manchester City saw the ball fired in by Anelka, and Sibierski got his head to it, only to place it straight at Julian in the Palace goal, leaving him little to do to deny the strike.

The next corner to City was well cut out by Danny before Distin joined the growing band of names in the book, this time the foul against AJ being the trigger for the referee. A free kick to Palace saw AJ cross the ball to Michael, but the chance was cleared by Distin, and with little further action the half seemed to come to a very abrupt end.

Honours were even, but Iain would have been emphasising that it would be critical to be first on the scoresheet following the start of the second half. Of course, things never work out quite that easy, particularly for followers of Crystal Palace.

Palace kicked off the second half, and for the umpteenth time Sandor was caught offside before Shaun Wright-Phillips forced a corner that was cleared up by the Palace defence. Barton tried a shot that was well saved by Julian, but the first goal was not far away. A corner to our visitors saw Anelka drill the ball into the bottom of the net, and if we all thought one goal might decide the match, then it was all but over already.

Michael was the last to get booked for the afternoon, for a foul on Sibierski, but shortly after AJ had a shot that was well dealt with by James in the opposing goal. Macken also sent in a shot, but it was well wide of the mark, and Palace decided it was time for a double substitution, taking off Shaun Derry and Sandor in favour of Nicola Ventola and Joonas Kolkka.

This move did not immediately change our luck though, as Danny was found guilty of a foul on Wright-Phillips and the referee wasted little time in pointing to the spot. Anelka stepped up, fired the ball into the bottom corner of the net, and we were left staring at a scoreline that read 2-0, and not in our favour.

Nicola got on the end of a cross, but his header went just wide of the upright before a corner to Palace was fired in by Wayne Routledge, his cross eluding everyone, and running out for a goal kick. Palace decided to make their final change of the afternoon, bringing on Ben Watson in place of Aki. So it was fairly obvious that we were going to throw everything at the City defence for the last 20 minutes.

A foul by Barton on Danny saw Ben fire in a free kick that James did well to hang on to, and then Sibierski tried his luck with same result, Julian hanging on well to the ball. The next foul by Distin though saw him bring down Nicola in the area, and once again the referee pointed to the spot, this time at the end of the ground all Palace supporters wanted to see it at. AJ took the kick, and unlike last week he powered the ball home, and we had a small opening back into the game.

A corner to City saw Anelka play the ball in, but Ben was there to guide it back out to safety, and as time ran down City made their only change of the day, replacing Macken with ex-Palace favourite Sun Jihai. Yet more niggling fouls and offside decisions followed though, and despite about three minutes of added on time Palace was unable to conjure up a second goal, and we slumped to our fifth defeat of the season.

The Cup match midweek should bring a little relief to things for the Palace faithful, and then next weekend League action will bring us a trip to Villa Park. I wonder if we might just be able to sneak a point there?

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Julian Speroni, Emmerson Boyce, Fitz Hall, Mark Hudson, Danny Granville, Wayne Routledge, Aki Riihilahti (Ben Watson 70), Michael Hughes, Shaun Derry (Joonas Kolkka 60), Sandor Torghelle (Nicola Ventola 60), Andrew Johnson.

Substitutes not used: Gabor Kiraly, Darren Powell.

Manchester City: David James, Danny Mills, Sylvain Distin, Richard Dunne, Ben Thatcher, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Antoine Sibierski, Claudio Reyna, Joey Barton, Nicolas Anelka, Jonathan Macken (Sun Jihai 88).

Substitutes not used: Robbie Fowler, Willo Flood, Paul Bosvelt, Ronald Waterreus.

Attendance: 25,052

Referee: Mr M Atkinson