Wolverhampton Wanderers - 0
Crystal Palace - 1 (Kirovski 45.)

Having finally managed to get to 2nd place in the League last week Palace saw their position taken over by Norwich City when they beat WBA on Friday night. To add to our woes we were up against the League leaders, and they would have been itching to get a win against us following their defeat in midweek to lowly Crewe Alexandra. Palace, of course, came into the match on the back of a 6 game League winning streak, and most of the "experts" were tipping a loss to the visitors, or at best a draw. Even the bookies had things that way, with the possibility of getting as much as 7/2 against Palace, but only 8/11 on Wolves.

Quite a few Palace supporters were in evidence amongst the 26,000+ fans as the game kicked off, and within a minute Dougie Freedman skied the ball over the bar following a good pass from Aki Riihilahti. Nathan Blake then took a shot at our goal, but to say the shot was poor would be an understatement. Jamie Smith and Hayden Mullins were being kept busy at the back repelling moves by the Wolves forwards, but generally they were dealing competently with all threats that came their way. Of course, having Tony Popovic and Steve Vickers there to help them did not go astray at all.

Clinton Morrison's first real contribution to the match was to get himself booked for a foul on Lee Naylor, but then Clinton appeased for his transgression with a great ball to Jovan Kirovski, though his touch let him down in the final play on goal. Mark Kennedy then took a pot shot at goal, but Matt Clarke was in good position to thwart the move. Matt is rapidly becoming the lynch pin of this Palace defence, and claims that he is the best keeper outside of the Premiership would be hard to dispute at this time. Dougie then hit another shot over the top to remind the Wolves faithful that he was there, but then a bit of end-to-end play saw Matt once again being instrumental in saving Palace. One effort saw Tony heading the ball alarmingly close to his own net, but Matt averted the danger, tipping the ball over the top for a corner.

Aki and Clinton were the next defenders to save Palace, which if nothing else shows the commitment of the players to keeping a clean sheet. To say that Wolves were dominating this passage of play would be true, but it would be just as true to admit that it was the final touch of the home side that was continually letting them down, and stopping them from opening the scoring. Needless to say, the dogged Palace defence, and the skills of Matt were also helping to keep the attack at bay.

In a rare move on the home side's goal Hayden found Clinton loitering in the area, but somehow he managed to totally mess up any chance of a shot on goal, and the moment was wasted. A free kick and a corner to Palace followed, but it was that man Kevin Muscat that was on hand to save the Wolves blushes. Somehow it doesn't seem that long ago that Kevin was plying his trade for Palace, and to see him performing well against us was little surprise to all Palace supporters.

Jovan once again swung in a good ball that Dougie just failed to connect with, his header going wide of the upright. A throw-in followed by a corner to Wolves put us under a little pressure, but we immediately won a corner at the other end, which of course came to nothing. Jamie was then booked for a foul on Mark Kennedy that nearly led to a goal, Joleon Lescott just failing to get that final touch that might have broken the deadlock. Clinton then came close, and Dougie was sent tumbling in the penalty area, but no one really believed that a penalty was ever going to be given, and Dougie was simply given the invitation to get up and keep playing by the referee. Muscat then hit a 30 yard thunderbolt that we were pleased to see float harmlessly over the bar before Colin Cameron totally messed up a shot when he was in the area. A corner to Palace saw the big men finally get up into the area, but the Wolves defence was more than equal to the task, and it was starting to look as if this was going to be a long afternoon "at the office".

Two corners in a row for the home side kept the pressure on our defence, but still we managed to keep them out. We then resorted to long through-balls, but they were never going to catch the Wolves defence napping. Going back to a short passing move sequence Palace then brought pressure to bear on the Wolves defence, and for the first time they started to look a little shaky.

By now we were into injury time in the first period of play, and a final free kick to Palace found Jovan about 25 yards out from goal. With nothing to lose he struck the ball in the same way Aki did the other day, and the ball swirled and dipped before flying into the back of the net past the desperate dive of Michael Oakes in goal.

Right on half time we were 1-0 up, and all the pressure that Wolves had exerted amounted to nothing, as they were behind on the scoresheet. We had also failed to take any chances that had presented themselves, but we had somehow managed to manufacture a chance from nothing, and we were in the lead against the Division leaders. The players trooped off, with the Palace fans far happier than their Wolves counterparts.

Palace had the honour of kicking off in the second stanza of play, and no sooner had they done this than all Palace supporters around the world were wishing for the final whistle. A couple of smart moves by the home side led to Carl Robinson snapping a shot at goal, his effort going wide of the post. Adam Proudlock then repeated the effort, his shot also going wide, and it appeared as if Palace were going to be lucky if they were going to be able to hang on to this slender lead.

A good cross from Shaun Newton failed to find Paul Butler, and though it was starting to look as if it was only a matter of time before the equaliser was found it was also obvious that luck was not running Wolves way, and just maybe Palace could steal a second and put the game beyond the reach of the home side. Blake then headed over the top, followed by a good save from Matt which led to a rare run up the field by the Palace players. Julian Gray managed to get a cross into the centre, but the Palace attack was not on hand to capitalise, and a chance went begging.

The chances continued to flow for the Wolves attack, but still we managed to keep them out, a mixture of good defending, magic keeping and a little bit of luck keeping us in the lead. Of course, that final touch from the Wolves players was just not happening for them, and this was certainly helping the Palace cause. Wolves won another corner, but once again they wasted the chance, leading to a couple of substitutions for the home side. Matt once again saved the day for Palace when he saved from a Newton attempt before again beating the ball away from a follow-up shot.

A shot that ballooned over the top from Branch was followed by an attempt by Carl Robinson, which was just as resolutely dealt with by the Palace defence. With 15 minutes left Palace finally got a free kick, but they immediately wasted the opportunity. Steve Vickers and Simon Rodger then saved Palace from losing their lead, with a fine piece of defending when it looked certain that Wolves would score, and finally the travelling Palace contingent started to believe that we might, just, win this one, despite the fact that all the pressure was one way during the second half.

David Hopkin was brought on to replace scorer Jovan, presumably in an attempt to bring fresh legs on to the field of play - Palace had certainly spent most of the afternoon chasing the rampant Wolves forwards. A good snap shot from Cameron was well saved once again by Matt in goal, and then Dougie very nearly scored the killer goal at the other end. He ghosted in from the right, set up his shot, beat the keeper, and hit the post. The resulting rebound just eluded Clinton, and was somehow cleared away by the defence. If that had gone in the game would certainly have been all over.

A corner was well dealt with by Matt, then Julian made a good run up the left before crossing to Tony who just mistimed his run and the chance went begging. Four minutes of extra time was added - where did the referee come up with that figure from - was it merely to prolong the agony of the Palace travellers?

Dean Austin replaced Dougie, presumably this time in an effort to run down the clock before Muscat got a chance to shine for the home side, his attempt being wasted when he totally miss-hit the ball. Finally the referee put us all out of our misery, and blew to signify that it was full-time. Palace had won by scoring from almost their only real chance in the match, and they had managed to beat the League leaders, who had thrown everything but the kitchen sink at them.

Well done lads, now let's teach Burnley a lesson or two!

Colin Pryce

Wolverhampton Wanderers: Michael Oakes, Kevin Muscat, Joleon Lescott, Paul Butler, Lee Naylor, Shaun Newton, Carl Robinson Alex Rae 75), Colin Cameron, Mark Kennedy, Adam Proudlock (Michael Branch 66), Nathan Blake.

Substitutes not used: Cedric Roussel, Matthew Murray, Sean Connelly.

Crystal Palace: Matt Clarke, Jamie Smith, Steve Vickers, Hayden Mullins, Tony Popovic, Julian Gray, Simon Rodger, Aki Riihilahti, Jovan Kirovski (David Hopkin 81), Dougie Freedman (Dean Austin 90), Clinton Morrison.

Substitutes not used: Alex Kolinko, Tommy Black, Steve Thomson.

Attendance: 26,471

Referee: Mr S Dunn (Bristol)