Crystal Palace - 2 (Black 36. 40.)
Portsmouth - 3 (Claridge 45. Thorgersen 59. Panopoulos 80.)

Coming into this match Steve Claridge had played two games as player/manager, scored twice and won two games. Following the match he made it 3, 3, 3. By comparison we had lost innumerable games, and as soon as we seemed to fix one problem we managed to find a new one. Hopefully Alan will get everything sorted out very soon, starting with the Grimsby game on Tuesday night.

Steve Staunton came straight into the side following his signing late in the week, and the early part of the play seemed to be all Palace. Despite chances being missed by another new signing, Andrejs Rubins, and Clinton Morrison who saw his shot cleared off the line by Michael Panopoulos, it appeared only to be a matter of time before we opened the scoring. The man who made the shot for Clinton was the one that finally broke the deadlock. With 10 minutes remaining before half time Tommy Black managed to evade a number of defenders before unleashing a 20-yard shot straight at the top right hand corner of the goal leaving Russell Hoult no chance whatsoever.

Not content with this effort five minutes later Mikael Forssell was provided with a golden opportunity to make it two goals, but his effort was miss-hit, and it appeared that the ball was going nowhere. Suddenly, up popped Tommy once again, and he was left with a simple tap into the back of the net to make Palace look unassailable.

Of course, there is no such thing as an insurmountable task for Palace's opposition these days. As the referee was looking at his watch to signal half time Alex Kolinko managed to safely catch a goalward bound ball. Lee Bradbury, so recently a Palace regular, appeared to jostle the keeper, and the ball fell from his grasp, landing beautifully for Steve Claridge to simply steer the ball into the back of the net. Palace supporters will, forever more, argue that had the ref been keeping an eye on the play then a foul would have been given, and the goal would not have been recorded, but then what is a game without a little controversy at Selhurst Park these days?

The second half started, as it always seems to, with the trailing side appearing by far the more dominant.

Ceri Hughes, who had come on following the break after an injury to skipper Darren Moore, made the equaliser for the visitors. His pass from the left side of the field picked out Thomas Thorgersen who headed the ball from only 6 yards out straight into the back of the net. Where was the man who should have been marking him? He seemed to be in a lot of space when he made his shot. Within minutes Hughes was gone too, following another injury, and Stefani Miglioranzi had to be brought on to replace him.

With only 10 minutes remaining on the clock the game was up for grabs for either side, but it was obvious that it was the visitors who had their tail up. Another cross from the left, this time from Nigel Quashie, found Panopoulos who somehow managed to miss-hit his shot. This was a blessing in disguise though, as the shot somehow bounced up, cleared the despairing keeper, and rolled gently into the back of the net.

A 2-0 lead had somehow managed to turn itself into a 3-2 loss, and Palace continue to search for the answers that will bring them their deserved run of success. Let's hope that it will start at Selhurst Park against Grimsby on Tuesday.

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Alex Kolinko, Jamie Smith, Hayden Mullins, Clinton Morrison, Tommy Black, Mikael Forssell (Wayne Carlisle 61), Andrejs Rubins, Jamie Pollock, Craig Harrison (Simon Rodger 63), Steve Staunton, Andy Morrison.

Substitutes not used: Julian Gray, Steve Thomson, Andrew Frampton.

Portsmouth: Russell Hoult, Linvoy Primus, Justin Edinburgh, Shaun Derry, Darren Moore (Ceri Hughes 45, Stefani Miglioranzi 71), Steve Claridge, Lee Bradbury (Luke Nightingale 88), Nigel Quashie, Thomas Thorgersen, Scott Hiley, Michael Panopoulos.

Substitutes not used: Aaron Flahavan, David Waterman.

Attendance: 15,693

Referee: Mr P Durkin (Dorset).