Burnley - 1 (Cook 17.)
Crystal Palace - 0

I guess the bubble finally had to burst, and at this point Palace are able to remain in 1st place in the League, but it would have been nice to have equalled the 80 year-old record of 8 consecutive League wins. To temper this thought though we really did lose a cup match in the middle of the current run, so perhaps we should just settle for a start once again of an eight game winning sequence against Norwich City on Sunday. Wouldn't that be nice?

Dougie Freedman was left out of tonight's side due to a bout of flu, and to say that he was missed would be an understatement. The lack of firepower was evident up front, and though the defence manfully toiled away all night we were never any real chance of ever taking anything out of this game once the home side had snatched a lead.

Palace were lucky on the night not to have the other results go against them, and somehow they managed to remain in top place in the League, and they will be looking to maintain that position at the weekend.

Following on from great long range strikes from Aki Riihilahti and Jovan Kirovski in the last two games, this time it was Julian Gray that attempted a 25-yarder that struck the top of the bar and sailed harmlessly away. A cross form Lee Briscoe though was poorly cleared by the Palace defence, and Paul Cook found the ball at his feet. Lobbing it back over the head of the advancing Matt Clarke was the simplest of tasks presented to most footballers, and it was suddenly 1-0; there was only 17 minutes gone on the clock.

Shortly after Aki had his own long-range shot at goal, but the keeper proved more than equal to the task. A few minutes later Clinton Morrison had a good chance to bring things back on level terms but he somehow managed to scoop the ball over the top when he was only about 6 yards from goal. Tony Popovic then cleared a dangerous ball from the home side before Simon Rodger put a header wide of the target from a Steve Vickers cross. Is this to be the final game for Steve in Palace colours? I guess we find out in the next few days.

Half time arrived without any addition to the score, and whilst we would have been pleased that we had not conceded more than one goal, the lack of scoring opportunities would have been worrying for Steve Bruce, and one can be sure that he made this clear at the break.

Early in the second half Hayden Mullins cleared a Burnley attempt on goal, releasing Jovan for a good run up the pitch, but the move fell apart, and the opportunity was lost. A free kick taken by Jamie Smith went straight to the keeper, and then Steve was called on to clear a dangerous move by the home attack. Good pressure from Burnley led to naught before Aki got clear and nearly played Clinton in, the ball going just wide of him as he rushed into the goalmouth area.

Ian Moore took a snapshot at goal, but Matt was well aware of the move, and snatched the ball out of midair to save the day once more. Clinton appeared to be felled in the penalty area, but it was at best a 50-50 chance, and the referee waved play on. Palace then made their first substitution of the night, bringing Tommy Black on for Jamie. Clinton was then offside from a good pass from Steve and then the best appeal for a penalty, when the ball was deliberately handled in the area by a Burnley defender, was again turned down by Mr Clattenburg. He had been upsetting the home fans all evening, and now he was not on the Christmas card list of the faithful travelling Palace supporters either. Of course, Burnley supporters would argue that there was no way it was a penalty, and if it was us that was responsible for the incident I feel sure that I would have argued the same.

Jovan put the resulting free kick well wide, and as the rain settled in it was becoming obvious that we were going to be lucky if we were going to get anything out of this evening's performance. Good attempts from Steve Davis and Kevin Ball nearly doubled their lead, and we made our second, and as it proved, our final, substitution of the evening, bringing Steve Thomson on for Simon. Tommy found himself playing defender before he put Clinton free, the move once again coming to nothing.

By now we were well into the last 10 minutes of the game, and Clinton got a good move on goal before setting up Thomson, who blasted his shot wide of the mark when the Palace fans thought he might just snatch an equaliser. Although we were starting to put the pressure on the home side they were looking equally dangerous on the break, and we were going to have to be careful not to concede a second, and really damage the scoreboard.

Despite four minutes of added on time neither side was able to add to the score, with the home side perhaps just coming closest, their shot going well over the head of Matt, and indeed his goal area to sail harmlessly away on the wind. So, a chance gone begging, or just the kick in the pants that Palace need to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and put in a good performance in front of the Selhurst crowd on Sunday? As usual, time alone will tell.

Colin Pryce

Burnley: Nik Michopoulos, Steve Davis, Ian Cox, David Gnohere, Paul Weller, Tony Grant, Paul Cook (Gordon Armstrong 74), Kevin Ball, Lee Briscoe, Gareth Taylor (Glen Little 83), Ian Moore (Andy Payton 89).

Substitutes not used: Luigi Cennamo, Dean West.

Crystal Palace: Matt Clarke, Hayden Mullins, Tony Popovic, Steve Vickers, Jamie Smith (Tommy Black 57), David Hopkin, Simon Rodger (Steve Thomson 77), Aki Riihilahti, Julian Gray, Jovan Kirovski, Clinton Morrison.

Substitutes not used: Alex Kolinko, Dean Austin, Craig Harrison.

Attendance: 14,713

Referee: Mr M Clattenburg (Cramlington)