Crystal Palace - 3 (Morrison 43. 45. Mullins 46.)
Grimsby Town - 1 (Groves 11.)

With the possibility being that this was the last match for many of the players in a Palace shirt, the rumours linking a lot of them with transfers before the deadline next Thursday, and considering that Grimsby not only took the lead, but would improve their chances of a play-off position if they could win here, the result is a very commendable credit to the side.

The game was mostly one way traffic, and for the home supporters the traffic was, for once, going in the right direction. A good move by Lee Bradbury saw Clinton Morrison given an early opportunity to open the scoring, but his effort was deflected over the bar for a corner. A rare move forward by Dave Tuttle saw a 35 yard screamer go just wide of the post.

With only 11 minutes on the clock a breakaway by the visitors saw the wheels fall off when Tommy Widdrington and Kevin Donovan put together the first move that reached the Palace half, and Paul Groves was on hand to finish off the move, putting the ball past Kevin Miller. Suddenly we were 1-0 down, and wondering what had gone wrong.

Further chances fell to Morrison and Bradbury, but still the elusive goal would not come.

This was all to change though, and all the action took place either side of the break. With two minutes remaining to half-time a fairly weak attempt by Bradbury was fumbled by Aiden Davison, and Morrison slotted the rebound home. Level terms, and the break was due, but Palace were not finished yet. The very next move brought yet another corner our way, and Clinton rose above the defence to slot home his second with a great header, giving us a 2-1 lead at the interval.

Steve Coppell would certainly have been pleased with the overall performance of the half, though he would have been within his rights to have been annoyed about the way the side allowed Grimsby such a soft goal, when they had only had one chance at our end. This would compare to almost 20 chances to the home side, so the ratio of conversion was not good until right at the very end.

The second half was due to get underway, and Grimsby made their first substitution, Mark Lever coming on for Kingsley Black. Palace were not going to be denied a well deserved home win though, and right from the whistle they set out in search of their third goal.

It did not take long at all to come either! Bradbury was once again in the action when, after getting the ball in the middle of the field, he played a wonderful through ball to Hayden Mullins. Hayden took his chance well, and though the keeper advanced towards the play he angled his shot perfectly to give us a two goal cushion, almost certainly sealing the points.

The game was still being played predominantly at the visitors end of the ground, and Morrison missed a perfect chance to get his hat trick when he fired over the bar from only 6 yards out in front of an open goalmouth. From this point on Palace let up the pressure, and the best that Grimsby could do by way of an answer was a Widdrington effort that flew past the post.

With only 7 minutes remaining in the game Coppell made one of the most popular moves of his current spell as manager when he introduced Sasa Curcic to the fray. The crowd stood as one and applauded the move for what seemed an eternity. Sasa was not there long enough to make any worthwhile contribution, though he was there to see the team decimated somewhat further.

Only three minutes were remaining when Dave Tuttle was booked, but being his second booking for the match he was duly shown the red card and left the field of play for an early bath. The three minutes missing from the field are not particularly important, but in the context of the games to go, considering the players that we may lose before Thursday, Dave will now miss a game or two when we need him most.

A final chance came for Grimsby against our remaining 10 men when Groves hit the post, but the whistle went, we had stretched our unbeaten run to six games, with the last three at home all being wins. That kind of form is promotion, not relegation material.

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Kevin Miller, Jamie Smith, Dave Tuttle, Jamie Fullarton, Craig Moore, Andy Linighan, Sun Jihai (Craig Foster 79), Fan Zhiyi (Sasa Curcic 83), Lee Bradbury, Clinton Morrison, Hayden Mullins.
Not Used: Leon McKenzie.

Grimsby Town: Aiden Davison, John McDermott, Tony Gallimore, Peter Handyside (Daryl Clare 64), Richard Smith, Stacy Coldicott, Kevin Donovan, Kingsley Black (Mark Lever 45), Lee Ashcroft (Wayne Bennett 71), Thomas Widdrington, Paul Groves.
Not Used: None.

Attendance: 15,228
Referee: Mr M.E. Pierce (Portsmouth).