Derby County - 2 (Manel 70. Osman 86.)
Crystal Palace - 1 (Hughes 16.)
Derby got the match underway, but Andy Johnson got the ball and ran at the defence, his move being stopped by Youl Mawene. Candido Costa got a good cross in to Izale McLeod, but his shot went well wide of the mark, and then a foul on Aki Riihilahti saw Tony Popovic pump the ball upfield from the resulting free kick. Leon Osman did well to get the ball into the centre, but Tony cleared the danger, and the next chance looked as if Tony may have handled the ball, but nothing was given.
Marco Reich sent in a cross that Cedric Berthelin made a mess of, and Tony almost put it in the back of his own net. The follow up ball was again played in by Reich, but this time Cedric managed to hang on to the ball. Palace made a good run on goal, and though it appeared that AJ was brought down in the area, once again nothing was given by the referee, and play continued. Mark Hudson was caught offside, but then Neil Shipperley played the ball on to Michael Hughes, who simply lobbed the ball over the head of the keeper, and we found ourselves 1-0 up.
Tony was on hand again to deny McLeod a shot on goal, and then AJ forced the keeper into making a good clearance when under pressure. Julian Gray managed to get a good cross in that Mark hit first time, the keeper just managing to tip the ball over the top of the bar for a corner. Michael played it in, Lee Grant punched it clear, Wayne Routledge fired it goalwards once more, and the keeper saved his deflected shot with ease.
McLeod tried a shot that Cedric came off his line to collect, then Osman got a shot on goal that came off Mark, and looped on to the top of the net. Palace cleared the resulting corner, and then Aki cleared a shot sent in by Reich. A couple of corners to Derby came to nothing, and with an injured AJ having trouble Palace decided on an early change, Dougie Freedman coming on to replace him.
Rob Edwards, yes, the player that was with Palace recently, took a free kick that found Michael Johnson, but his header went well wide of the target. McLeod tried next, but Cedric easily retrieved his weak shot. Dougie got the ball to Wayne, but Johnson cut out his return pass, and then a free kick to Palace was fired in by Danny Butterfield, the keeper holding on to the chance.
Danny B got a great cross in to Dougie, but the keeper reacted well to his shot, and the chance was lost, but moments later Julian tried a shot that deflected off Edwards, and would have ended up in the back of the net but for the superb save that the keeper pulled off. Ian Taylor tried a header that went straight up in the air, and Cedric was able to hang on to the ball as it came down again, but Taylor tried to force him into the net, and a free kick was given.
Danny G took the kick, and as the ball fell to Tony he blasted his shot well over the top of the bar. Offside was the ruling, so it would not have counted anyway. Reich sent another shot just over the top, and a free kick right in front was held by Cedric as Reich fired the chance goalwards. McLeod was booked for a foul on Aki, and then Costa was denied as Danny G got in the way of his shot at goal.
Without further ado the whistle signalled half time, and though we were 1-0 up the chances were falling too often to the home team to instill any confidence in the Palace faithful. Presumably Iain Dowie would have been asking for a little tightening up at the back, and perhaps just another goal or two, to make us all feel a little better?
Another ex-Palace player, in the form of Noel Whelan, replaced Costa at the start of the second half, as Palace got play underway once more. Wayne tried a cross into the centre that fell just behind Dougie as he rushed into the area, and then at the other end Whelan was caught offside. Neil saw a chance go begging as he played it far too weakly, and the keeper easily held on to the ball. Osman nearly got clear, but Danny B averted the danger, and then Dougie was caught offside, just as he looked to be clear.
Aki was booked for a late foul on Tom Huddlestone, and Derby immediately substituted him for Adam Bolder. Palace played the offside trap as the free kick was taken, and caught a few of the opposing players offside, and they then decided on a further change of their own, Aki making way for Shaun Derry. Whelan was booked for a foul on Danny B, and though a free kick further up the field was given from the resulting play the ball hit the wall, and another chance was wasted.
A corner to Palace saw Dougie just miss a chance to make the game safe, and suddenly a good move by Whelan found Manuel Manel, who had only just come on to the pitch for McLeod, and he simply headed the ball home to put Derby back on level terms. Neil was booked, presumably for back-chatting the referee, which is never a good idea, as you just cannot win at that game, and Dougie got a great ball through to Shaun but the defence just managed to cut out the chance before he could strike.
Reich got a good shot on goal that Cedric did well to stop, and then Taylor got a header in that flew just wide of the post. Osman then got the ball following a mistake by Mark, and he simply placed the ball into the back of the net from close in, Cedric having little chance to stop the effort. Suddenly we were behind on the scoresheet, and there was not a great deal of time left.
Danny G was booked for a foul on Osman, and Tommy Black came on to replace Wayne in an attempt to find at least an equalising goal. Dougie was caught offside once more, and then a chance for Derby to finish the game saw Manel shoot straight into the side netting. Whelan fired in a shot that went straight to Cedric, and Tommy won a corner, but the chance was wasted once again.
Three minutes was added to the clock, but this simply left sufficient time for Manel to try again, this time his shot being deflected for a corner, and Whelan fired the cross way over the top of the bar.
The final whistle sounded, and Palace was faced with the journey home without a point to show for their efforts. Worse still was the fact that the playoff positions were now looking just that little bit further away. Still, next week sees us play host to Gillingham, and perhaps we can just get things back on track there?
Colin Pryce
Derby County: Lee Grant, Rob Edwards, Youl Mawene, Michael Johnson, Robert Jackson, Candido Costa (Noel Whelan 46), Ian Taylor, Tom Huddlestone (Adam Bolder 59), Marco Reich, Izale McLeod (Manuel Manel 67), Leon Osman.
Substitutes not used: Pablo Mills, Lee Camp.
Crystal Palace: Cedric Berthelin, Danny Granville, Danny Butterfield, Tony Popovic, Mark Hudson, Wayne Routledge (Tommy Black 80), Aki Riihilahti (Shaun Derry 60), Michael Hughes, Julian Gray, Andrew Johnson (Dougie Freedman 29), Neil Shipperley.
Substitutes not used: Mikele Leigertwood, Gary Borrowdale.
Attendance: 21,856
Referee: Mr C Boyeson