Crystal Palace - 2 (Forssell 48. Morrison 82.)
Sunderland - 1 (Rae 49.)

If anyone had managed to take a peek at Selhurst Park in the 48 hours leading up to this match, they could have been forgiven for wondering just what it was that Palace were growing out there on the pitch. One thing was for sure; the amount of tarpaulin that shielded the pitch from view surely had a purpose? It was simple enough to fathom though. Having the match postponed last week Palace were taking no chances on the inclement weather this time round, only uncovering the pitch at the last possible moment before the game.

Following the kick off the first move towards goal came from the home side, with a cross from Simon Rodger being dropped by Thomas Sorensen; unfortunately there was no one on hand to put the ball away. In end-to-end stuff from there on Hayden Mullins did well to clear danger before Simon put his cross too deep. Mikael Forssell won the first corner of the match, but the defence easily cleared the resulting cross. Shortly after Clinton Morrison managed to beat the offside trap and was presented with a one-on-one situation with the keeper. He curled his shot round the rapidly advancing custodian, but Sorensen was just good enough to get a little bit of stopping power behind the shot. Even so the ball rolled agonisingly close to the open goal before Darren Williams beat the ball to the line and hoofed a wild clearance away. Jamie Pollock then shot way over the bar followed by a genuine appeal for a penalty when Stanislav Varga clearly handled the ball in the area. The only person at the ground who apparently did not see the incident was Mr Wiley, and unfortunately his opinion is the only one that counts.

Julio Arca then made a good move goalwards, but his shot was ineffectual; and then Alex Rae saw his shot run wide. A shot from Michael Gray missed before Clinton returned the compliment at the other end. Tommy Black then got through on goal but a foul further back in the field of play denied him a shot on goal. The remainder of the half saw more of these attempts at both ends, with the best being when Black took a free kick that went just wide and Sunderland's best chance actually ended up in the back of the net but their players were easily offside. The referee fortunately got that one right!

Without further ado the half came to an end, but somehow we had managed to pick up three yellow cards, to Jamie Smith, Neil Ruddock and Tommy Black, with the visitors somehow managing to escape the half card free.

Palace started the second half much as they had finished the first; they were still attacking the goal at every opportunity. An early corner came to naught and then Mikael dragged a shot wide. This shot though was just a little bit special, for it conjured up one the most peculiar goalkicks that has been seen at Selhurst Park in a long time. Sorensen hit the ball to a close defender obviously with no concern about the close by Clinton, who immediately pounced on the loose ball. His centering shot found Mikael who had the simplest of tasks to "walk the ball" into the back of the net. 1-0 up, watch out semi-finals, here we come! Not quite, before the crowd had a chance to resume their seats Daniele Dichio headed the ball down to Alex Rae, who from only five yards out slotted the ball home to level the scores. This immediate response brought Sunderland to life for a while, but then Mikael hit the post and totally miscued his follow up shot.

Clinton hit the bar within a minute of Mikael's shot, but then we went back to trading shots at both ends of the park. None of them were particularly effective, and it was starting to look as if once again we were headed for extra time and a possible penalty shoot-out. No one had taken into account that Clinton had not yet scored in this match, however, and his record of late is nothing if not consistent.

Gathering the ball on the edge of the area he turned first one way, then the other, the constant movement leaving Emerson Thome completely bamboozled. From a wide angle he let fly a wicked shot, and despite the despairing keeper flinging himself across the goalmouth the ball flew into the back of the net and we were once again back in the lead.

The final chances of the match went nearly all to Palace, with Mikael coming closest once again, but the match was already all but over. Kevin Kilbane did have one shot on goal that left the supporters with their hearts in their mouth for a moment, but the ball sailed harmlessly over the top of the bar.

The final whistle sounded, the Palace fans were buoyant, and the Sunderland fans faced a long, bleak, journey home. Roll on Liverpool - two legs, and two wins?

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Alex Kolinko, Jamie Smith, Dean Austin, Fan Zhiyi, Neil Ruddock, Hayden Mullins, Simon Rodger, Clinton Morrison (Wayne Carlisle 90), Tommy Black (Steve Thomson 87), Mikael Forssell, Jamie Pollock.

Substitutes not used: Julian Gray, Matthew Gregg, Craig Harrison.

Sunderland: Thomas Sorensen, Michael Gray, Darren Williams, Stanislav Varga, Emerson Thome, Julio Arca (Gavin McCann 57), Kevin Kilbane, Alex Rae, Stefan Schwarz (John Oster 81), Daniele Dichio, Kevin Phillips.

Substitutes not used: Andy Marriott, Jody Craddock, Paul Thirlwell.

Attendance: 15,945

Referee: Mr A Wiley (Burntwood).