Crystal Palace - 0
Sheffield Wednesday - 0

This really was a match that Palace needed to win, in order to keep in touch with the leading pack in the League. That they failed to do so could almost be foreseen, but the Palace faithful are nothing but optimists, and 16,000+ souls turned up for this encounter, and presumably went away just a little bit upset with our failure to score. Needless to say, the team will, most likely, spend the rest of the season winning those matches they are not expected to win, and letting us down in matches we think we "have a right" to take all three points from. I guess we will just have to wait and see, but from now on we need about 10 wins out of the last 15 matches, if we want to have a chance at a play-off position.

Wednesday got this game underway, and though Lloyd Owusu won a corner the chance was wasted when Paul McLaren hit the ball way up into the crowd. A free kick to Palace followed, and it was Ade Akinbiyi that played a good ball into Andy Johnson, his shot going over the top of the bar.

Ade then won a corner, but the cross into the centre went well over the top of the massed players in the box, and as the ball rapidly made its' way to the other end of the park it was left to Hayden Mullins to block a shot from Allan Johnston. Back to the "correct" end for the Palace faithful, and Paul Evans easily cut out a cross that came in from Julian Gray. He then claimed the next cross, which came courtesy of AJ, and then Tommy Black tried his luck at getting the ball into the danger area, but his attempt went straight out for a goal kick.

AJ won a corner, but Wednesday cleared the danger once more, then McLaren received a yellow card for a poor tackle on Julian. Michael Reddy got a good cross in to Ashley Westwood, the ball just eluding the Sheffield man as he looked to be certain to score. Julian finally got a shot that seemed destined to find the net, Garry Monk finally clearing the ball from just under the bar. A couple of corners to Palace resulted in AJ blasting the ball over the top, when really he should have buried the ball in the back of the net.

A corner at the other end saw a good clearance by Darren Powell, but a shot by Alan Quinn almost caught the Palace players unaware, his long-range strike going just wide of the mark. Owusu was caught offside, whilst at the other end AJ and Julian both saw their attempts on goal beaten out by a resolute defence. Trevor Francis decided at this point to make an early substitution, bringing off Steve Thomson and sending Wayne Routledge into the action. Wayne's first taste of action saw him get a great cross to AJ, but once again the defence was up to the job, as Ade was on hand to provide a simple tap in, if only the ball had got to him.

An appeal for handball, against Wednesday, was ignored by the referee, and shortly after AJ was tripped as he advanced on goal. Danny Granville took the resultant free kick, but his shot hit the defending wall, and deflected behind for yet another corner to Palace. The corner was again easily dealt with by the defence, and as the clock ran down Johnston got Westwood clear, his rasping shot fortunately going straight into the waiting hand of Cedric Berthelin.

Without further ado the half time whistle sounded, and Trevor would, presumably, have been none too pleased with the run of the play to date, and would have been asking for far more commitment from his players in the second half.

Palace got the second half underway, the first action seeing Owusu once again getting caught offside. Quinn became the second name in the book for a foul on Wayne, but this time Palace took the free kick quickly. Tommy made a good run towards goal, and as his cross fell to AJ the keeper bravely snatched the ball from his feet before he could get a touch on it. Wayne went on another of his trademark runs, but once again Quinn was there to clear the danger, then at the other end we were treated to the unusual sight of Wayne clearing a goalwards bound chance.

AJ got in a good cross that Julian headed weakly goalwards, the "shot" causing little trouble for the Wednesday defence. Palace then made their second substitution, taking off their previous sub, Wayne, and sending on Dele Adebola. AJ was hurt in a tackle, but was able to continue shortly after, and a free kick to Palace saw Ade just fail to connect with the ball, when a strike would surely have found the back of the net. Danny G then tried a back-pass to Cedric, which nearly saw Owusu get between the players, Cedric booting the ball to safety at the last moment.

Tommy then hit a goalward bound shot, the ball coming off a defender and just being tipped round the post by a very alert keeper. Wednesday made their first change, Owusu giving way to Shefki Kuqi, before Ade almost found Dele with a cross, the chance being wasted once more. Kuqi hit a shot against the post, but he had already been flagged offside, then Julian sent in a cross that Ade missed at the corner of the goal.

Dele hit a shot that went just wide of the mark, but just as impressively Quinn made a run on our goal, his shot going just over the top. Palace made their final change for the match, Gary Borrowdale coming on for Julian, and 5 minutes of injury time was added to the clock. Tommy then had the best chance of the match. He beat a number of defenders on his way towards the goal, and the shot that he unleashed easily beat the keeper, the only saving grace, for Wednesday, being the woodwork that somehow contrived to get in the way of what would have been a brilliant individual goal.

Brian Barry-Murphy blatantly handled the ball in the penalty area, but once again the referee ignored the pleas from the Palace players, and though he awarded a corner Danny G saw his shot deflected away from goal, and the final whistle sounded.

So Palace are still in search of the their first League win for 2003, perhaps next week at Molineux?

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Cedric Berthelin, Danny Granville, Hayden Mullins, Darren Powell, Tommy Black, Danny Butterfield, Julian Gray (Gary Borrowdale 88), Aki Riihilahti, Steve Thomson (Wayne Routledge 33, Dele Adebola 68), Ade Akinbiyi, Andrew Johnson.

Substitutes not used: Alex Kolinko, Will Antwi.

Sheffield Wednesday: Paul Evans, Brian Barry-Murphy, Danny Maddix, Garry Monk, Dean Smith, Ashley Westwood, Allan Johnston, Paul McLaren, Alan Quinn, Lloyd Owusu (Shefki Kuqi 81), Michael Reddy (Tony Crane 90).

Substitutes not used: Christopher Stringer, Ryan Green, Steven Haslam.

Attendance: 16,707

Referee: Mr G Cain (Merseyside)