Crystal Palace - 3 (Leigertwood 66. Granville 70. Johnson 77.)
Tottenham Hotspur - 0

This match got underway, and though there was a number of supporters that thought we might win, the vast majority were forecasting doom and gloom. Palace made a few changes from last week's line-up, the most notable being the inclusion of Dougie Freedman for a very rare starting appearance.

The first action of the match saw a corner to our visitors, with Reto Ziegler sending in the set piece, but Gonzalo Sorondo was on hand to clear the danger to our goalmouth. Tom Soares fouled Noe Pamarot, resulting in a free kick taken by keeper Paul Robinson, and shortly after Dougie and Emmerson Boyce combined well to play Tom in, but the pass went just behind him, and out for a goal kick. Jermain Defoe tried a shot that was blocked by Andy Johnson, at the expense of a corner, but Spurs wasted this.

Mikele Leigertwood attempted to clear the ball, but his header hit the referee and fell kindly for Ziegler, who found Defoe with a great cross, though the shot on goal sailed over the top of the bar, much to the relief of the Palace faithful. AJ got the ball back into the danger zone for Tottenham, but Ledley King cleared his cross, and Michael Carrick tidied the resulting corner up.

Dean Marney sent in a free kick to Spurs, but once again AJ was back to clear up the danger before Defoe sent in a corner that Fitz Hall cleared for the home defence. Dougie forced a corner that was cleared by Carrick, and following a series of niggling fouls AJ won a free kick that Danny Granville fired goalwards, the keeper just managing to get to the ball in time to stop Palace from opening their account. Carrick tried a shot that went well wide of the post before AJ was caught offside and Marney saw his attempt caught by Gabor Kiraly in the Palace goal.

Marney was then booked, for a foul on Tom, and though the chance was wasted eventually Emmerson Boyce managed to get past Erik Edman, but his ball into the centre found no attacking Palace player. Michael Hughes was then booked for throwing the ball away following his foul on Robbie Keane, and many at the ground agreed that he was probably harshly dealt with for what looked a pretty good tackle, taking the ball and not the player. The resulting free kick sailed over the top of the bar.

Tom was caught offside, and a few minutes later Defoe returned the compliment at the other end, both the respective keepers taking the free kicks. Mikele tried a shot that went straight to the keeper from long distance, and as Ziegler played the ball back into our area Gabor had to concede the corner, though he then pulled off a good save from Marney's shot.

An injury forced Tottenham into a substitution just before the half time break, with Ziegler being replaced by Timothee Atouba, and he was immediately into the action as he blocked a shot by Tom on goal. Defoe was offside before AJ got the ball through to Mikele, and his shot sailed over the top of the bar as the referee brought the first half to a halt. The honours were even, and it was a little hard to fathom just who would have been the happier manager at this point in time. Both would probably have liked at least one goal.

The second half saw Tom try a shot that missed to the left of the upright, and it was some minutes later before Carrick had a shot that also went wide. Defoe tried again, his shot going harmlessly wide the other side of the goal, whilst at the other end Carrick handled the ball, and the free kick saw Michael try a shot that was well caught by Robinson. Wayne Routledge fired a corner to Palace into the centre, but Carrick was on hand to avert any danger, and as Wayne continued to send the ball into the area time and time again it was mainly Atouba who managed to get in the way, and make some good clearances.

Atouba tried a shot that went wide once again before Pamarot was booked for a late tackle on Tom, the free kick being fired forwards by Danny. Defoe offside saw Gonzalo take the free kick, and moments later Tom sent in a cross from the left wing, and it was Mikele who was on hand to tap the ball into the back of the net from just 6 yards out to open his account for the Eagles, being his first ever for the team.

Mikele was now on a roll, and he tried again very soon after, this time Miguel Pedro Mendes getting in the way of his shot, but as a long through ball fell to Wayne he sent in a great cross that Danny blasted into the bottom corner of the net to double our advantage, and to take his tally to three for the season, making him, believe it or not, our second highest scorer so far this term. Defoe was once again offside as Tottenham made their second change of the afternoon, this time bringing on Mark Yeates for Pamarot, and Gabor sent the free kick up field from deep in his own half.

Things were now happening quite fast though, and as the Palace faithful settled back to enjoy the two-goal buffer they saw AJ brought down in the area. Many thought it was Marney who brought him down, though some said it was Mendes, but either way the referee had little hesitation in pointing to the spot, and AJ picked himself up, sent the keeper the wrong way and increased the scoreline to 3-0.

AJ sent in another shot that the keeper did well to hang on to, and Spurs decided to make their final change of the afternoon, this time replacing Marney with Stephen Kelly. Due to Wayne fouling Edman it was Keane who played in the free kick, but Gabor was equal to the task and he snatched the ball out of the air to maintain our clean sheet.

Dougie had a shot that was well beaten away by the keeper, and with only a couple of minutes left Palace decided on a double change, replacing AJ with Wayne Andrews and Tom with Gary Borrowdale.

Dougie was caught offside and Defoe saw his shot well saved by Gabor, and with only a couple of minutes of time added on the game came to an end, signifying possibly our best win of the season so far. One can only expect bigger and better things for the rest of the season now, starting with our visit to The Hawthorns next week. Keeping both Defoe and Keane quiet is an exceptional achievement and to say that Iain Dowie was pleased with the result might just be the understatement of the year!

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Gabor Kiraly, Emmerson Boyce, Fitz Hall, Gonzalo Sorondo, Danny Granville, Wayne Routledge, Michael Hughes, Mikele Leigertwood Tom Soares (Gary Borrowdale 88), Andrew Johnson (Wayne Andrews 88), Dougie Freedman.

Substitutes not used: Julian Speroni, Vassilios Lakis, Darren Powell.

Tottenham Hotspur: Paul Robinson, Noe Pamarot (Mark Yeates 72), Ledley King, Noureddine Naybet, Erik Edman, Dean Marney (Stephen Kelly 82), Michael Carrick, Miguel Pedro Mendes, Reto Ziegler (Timothee Atouba 44), Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane.

Substitutes not used: Anthony Gardner, Nicky Eyre.

Attendance: 23,723

Referee: Mr C Foy