Crystal Palace - 1 (Riihilahti 90.)
Barnsley - 0

Barnsley had the honour of kicking off in this match, and they attacked the Holmesdale end for the first half. Perhaps "attacked" is not a very apt word, as Barnsley very rarely threatened our goal throughout the match, and the Palace side were not that much more prolific at creating scoring opportunities. This may well be a reflection of Barnsley's defending ability rather than Palace's lack of forward direction, but this was not the case at the other end as Bruce Dyer kept up a very lonely vigil in attack for the visitors.

The first offside of the match was when Dyer was caught; leading to choruses of song from the Palace faithful remembering the number of times he was caught offside in Palace colours. Aki Riihilahti was then needed to clear our lines when Carl Regan got past our defence. Clinton Morrison then almost got to a through ball, the keeper just getting there in time to kick the ball away. Dougie Freedman was then offside trying to get on the end of a Jamie Smith pass before Dyer got free at the other end only to be stopped dead in his tracks by Tony Popovic, who has been very impressive in defence over the last couple of games.

A cross in from Simon Rodger, following a free kick, nearly found the head of new loan signing Steve Vickers - what a great debut that would have been. A long-range shot from Jovan Kirovski almost found the mark, the ball sailing marginally over the top. Darren Barnard then managed to loose a shot at our goal that Matt managed to deal with easily, the ball flying straight into his waiting arms. Clinton was then adjudged to be offside, and a couple of corners failed to find the mark.

Jovan again managed to get on the end of a through ball, this time from Clinton, but once more his shot was wide of the mark. Despite a number of crosses into the danger area Palace were finding it very hard to break down this resolute Barnsley defence. Just before the break Dougie really should have opened the scoring when the defender slipped and left Dougie clear on goal. Instead of placing his shot he blasted the ball way over the top, and condemned the two sides to leave for the half time break all locked up at 0-0.

As the second half progressed it became very obvious that the crowd were going to be "treated" to more of the same, with Barnsley defending in depth, and Palace finding it harder and harder to break the defensive wall down. Of course, at the same time Matt Clarke was left with very little to do in the home goal; Barnsley had obviously come to Selhurst Park for the point.

The first substitution of the match took place fairly early on in the second half, but it was a most unusual one, being the referee off for the fourth official, Mr Phil Prosser. The reason, later revealed, was a hamstring injury to the ref.

Dyer forced a good save from Matt in goal before Jovan hit a shot just wide of the post. Tommy Black came on for Simon, and in his first run with the ball it looked almost as if he would run right through the defence, but he failed at the last moment. A bit of end-to-end stuff followed, but neither side looked as if they were going to seriously threaten the scoreboard.

Substitutions came from both sides, as Palace looked for a way to break down the defence, and Barnsley looked for ways to shore that same defence up. A corner to Palace found Dougie rising above all the tall defenders around him, and finally it looked as though the ball might go in the back of the net. In one of those events that seem to play in the mind in perpetual slow motion the ball hit the top of the crossbar and bounced away to safety to the relief of the desperate defence and the anguish of the home supporters.

Morrison managed to get on the end of a ball that came flying in from the outfield, but as usual he was crowded out by the defence, and by now we were approaching the final moments of the match. Jamie won a corner that Tommy went over to take. His looping shot found Aki rising above the crowd, and this time he made no mistake with his header, burying the ball in the back of the net, and finally getting us on the right side of the ledger.

Of course, at this point Barnsley really should have attacked, but as they had removed their attacking players in favour of a more defensive outlook this proved impossible, and the final minutes that were added on for injury time (most of it presumably the referee's own injury?) passed by in a flash, and the match was all over with Palace taking the narrowest of wins. Needless to say Palace supporters are always grateful for any points that come their way, and many will now look forward to the two matches against the two Sheffield's as well as the Cup match against Wednesday.

Well done once again lads, here's hoping that United at Bramall Lane reaps us another three points.

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Matt Clarke, Tony Popovic, Steve Vickers, Hayden Mullins, Jamie Smith, Simon Rodger (Tommy Black 68), Aki Riihilahti, Julian Gray, Jovan Kirovski (Steve Thomson 80), Dougie Freedman (Andrejs Rubins 90), Clinton Morrison.

Substitutes not used: Alex Kolinko, Dean Austin.

Barnsley: Andy Marriott, Jon Parkin, Chris Morgan, Chris Barker, Carl Regan, Mitch Ward, Kevin Donovan, Alex Neil (Eric Tinkler 72), Darren Barnard, Dean Gorre (Lee Jones 71), Bruce Dyer (Mike Sheron 78).

Substitutes not used: Brian O'Callaghan, Matt Ghent.

Attendance: 15,433

Referee: Mr B Knight (Orpington)