Burnley - 2 (Cooke 66. Payton 80.)
Crystal Palace - 2 (Forssell 17. Black 47.)

Palace travelled to Turf Moor on what can only be described as a wild and woolly night, such as only Lancashire seems able to produce. Looking for revenge for their defeat at the hands of Burnley only a few weeks earlier we looked forward to reversing the tables on our opposition, despite their enviable unbeaten home record this season. As things transpired the match left everything to play for, and we can only hope that a decent crowd turns up next week for the second round second leg home tie.

The start of the match saw Palace's plans going awry, with Kevin Ball going close twice in the early minutes. Alex Kolinko proved himself worthy of selection with some tremendous saves to keep us in the match, though his propensity to fist the ball away rather than hanging on to it did give some cause for alarm, a fear that would come home to roost later on in the match. A response from Fan Zhiyi followed with a well taken free kick that burst through the wall, only to bring a fingertip save from Nikoloas Michopoulos, making his debut in the Burnley goal.

Shortly after Ian Cox was well beaten, and it was Jamie Pollock that pounced on the ball, putting in an inch perfect pass to Mikael Forssell. Mikael made no mistake with a first time touch, slotting the ball past a despairing keeper to open the scoring. Leon McKenzie then tried to join in the act, his shot being pushed wide by the keeper at the last moment. The last 10 minutes or so really belonged to the home team, with two shots really standing out. First Andy Cooke attempted a spectacular overhead kick, which was well saved by Alex, and then Graham Branch put his shot wide into the side netting.

Half-time was upon us, and Palace were somewhat thankful to go to the break as 1-0 leaders, particularly having regard to the onslaught that Burnley had mounted approaching the interval.

The second half almost immediately brought us further success when Tommy Black managed to get past the defence with a quickly taken free-kick, and suddenly we were a little more comfortable, holding a 2-0 lead.

Although this should have signalled the beginning of the end of the match, the home side suddenly seemed to wake up to the fact that they were in a Cup match, and really needed something to take back to Selhurst Park.

Firstly Andy Payton sent the ball soaring over the bar, and then Alex was called upon again to save from the feet of the marauding attacker. Alex's habit of punching the ball away though, was about to have dire results. With 66 minutes gone his clearance went wrong, and it was Andy Cooke who was on hand to score from close range. Not learning from the mistake, five minutes later exactly the same thing happened, and Cooke once again had the ball in the back of the net, but the referee ruled that there was a foul, and the goal was disallowed.

As if to help us along Steve Davis pulled down Leon in the area, and the ref once more pointed to the penalty spot, something like the 4th that Palace have enjoyed recently, if only we could score from one! This one was no different, Fan managing to send in a very soft shot that was easily saved by the keeper. We really must learn to do better from such easy chances as this. Within 10 minutes Craig Harrison brought down Payton, and the penalty at the opposite end was duly converted, just to show us how it should be done!

Although Burnley pressed for the winner it was Tommy Black that came closest when, in the final minute of the match, his shot only managed to hit the post, and we had to settle for the draw, and the advantage of two away goals should they be needed at Selhurst next week.

Once again Alan Smith would have been more than pleased with the early part of the performance, particularly the scoring of two goals, but he would once again have been upset with the squandering of the lead once it was established. It seems that there is still more work to be done with the side, but hopefully all will come together very soon, and we will be on our winning way once more.

Colin Pryce

Burnley: Nikoloas Michopoulos, Mitchell Thomas, Lee Briscoe, Ian Cox, Paul Cook (Micky Mellon 33), Andy Cooke, Andy Payton, Graham Branch (Ronnie Jepson 71), Kevin Ball, John Mullin (Bradley Maylett 51), Steve Davis.

Substitutes not used: Paul Crichton, Alan Lee.

Crystal Palace: Alex Kolinko, Dean Austin, Fan Zhiyi, Hayden Mullins, Leon McKenzie, Clinton Morrison, Tommy Black, Mikael Forssell (Julian Gray 69), Andy Linighan, Jamie Pollock, Craig Harrison.

Substitutes not used: Simon Rodger, Steve Evans, Richard Harris, Sean Hankin.

Attendance: 5,889

Referee: Mr M Dean (The Wirral).