Crystal Palace - 0
Birmingham City - 2 (Austin og 45. Furlong 61.)

With only three games left after this one, and two of them away from home, it was vital that Palace took at least a point from this game. That it did not happen is now a matter of record, and it was obvious from the game that Birmingham were far more hungry for the points to secure their second successive play off position. With Ipswich to play on Tuesday, Palace now has to await the Easter Monday results to reassess their position.

A fair crowd turned out on a bright, sunny day to will Palace on to Division One safety, but somehow one feels that the crowd will be of massive proportions come next Saturday for the visit of Blackburn Rovers. This match turned out to be what might have been - if only the lads had taken some of those early chances!

With only 10 minutes of the match gone Craig Foster slipped in a cross that found Clinton Morrison, his shot letting him down with an easy save made by Thomas Myhre. Five minutes later it was the same two that put the visitors under pressure, this time the ball finishing on the goal line, with Morrison's final touch missing.

25 minutes had elapsed before Birmingham had their first serious attempt on goal. A poor backpass to Matthew Gregg from Ashley Cole allowed Jon McCarthy to slip in, but an excellent save from young Matthew kept our line intact. Wayne Carlisle then fired a shot over the bar after being set up by Mikael Forssell, and then Birmingham started to assert their supremacy. Jamie Smith stopped Martin Grainger's shot and Paul Furlong had a great shot saved one-handed by Gregg.

With two minutes of injury time played it looked as though the teams would go to the break locked up at 0-0, but that was not counting on stand in skipper Gary Rowett. His cross into the middle looked fairly harmless, until Dean Austin got tangled up with the keeper, his hurried header eluding Gregg to finish in the back of the net. An own goal must have been considered a pay back by the visiting supporters for the goal that Rowett scored for us at St Andrews, but it was a sickening blow for the entire home faithful.

Immediately following the break we really should have been back on level terms when Foster placed his shot just wide of the mark, though the real moment for Palace was when Morrison hit an overhead gem, that Michael Johnson somehow managed to clear off the goal line. Getting play back to the other end Rowett took a free kick that went just wide of the post, but then substitute Dele Adebola got into the act. Making a great run his low cross fell perfectly for Furlong, who made no mistake with his first time shot that flew past a stranded Gregg to double the lead.

Shortly after this Furlong again had the ball in the back of the net, but the linesman spotted an infringement and a free kick was awarded to Palace instead. From there to the end of the match it appeared that Birmingham were more than content to hold on to their lead, and apart from a great chance at the very end of the match they never really looked in danger of losing that lead. A cross from a wide position from Morrison whistled across the goal face, and both Leon McKenzie and Stephen Hunt totally missed the ball.

The two interesting statistics from this match were that Palace actually had 11 attempts at goal compared to the opposition's 7, and 9 times we were caught offside compared to their once! The main offender here appeared to be Morrison, but at least he is trying. Perhaps a couple of goals on Tuesday will help to settle him down. It will certainly take a couple of goals to settle down Steve Coppell after this performance!

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Matthew Gregg, Jamie Smith, Dean Austin, Ashley Cole, Andy Linighan, Craig Foster (Steve Thomson 75), Wayne Carlisle, Hayden Mullins, Clinton Morrison, Mikael Forssell (Steve Hunt 75), Leon McKenzie.

Substitutes not used: Lee Kendall, David Woozley, Andrew Frampton.

Birmingham City: Thomas Myhre, Gary Rowett, Martin Grainger, Bryan Hughes, Graham Hyde, David Holdsworth, Jon McCarthy (Stuart Campbell 90), Darren Purse, Paul Furlong (Marcelo Cipriano Dos Santos 79), Michael Johnson, Andy Johnson (Dele Adebola 55).

Substitutes not used: Simon Charlton, Stan Lazaridis.

Attendance: 17,144

Referee: Mr P Durkin (Dorset).