Brighton - 0
Crystal Palace - 0

Palace and Brighton supporters alike had been looking forward to this fixture ever since the 5-0 drubbing we handed out back in October. Of course, the reasons were different for both sets of fans, with Brighton looking for revenge, and Palace looking for a similar result to last time. Steve Coppell had only just taken up the helm at the Withdean Stadium the last time we met, and the result must have given him some idea of the Herculean task he had undertaken. In fairness his side has shown a reasonable improvement since that time, and thus not many Palace pundits were expecting the same result. In fact, many had realistically taken a look at the recent home form for Brighton, and the away form of the Eagles, and were confidently tipping a win for the home side, unpalatable as that may have seemed to all the Palace faithful.

The first "action" in the match saw the first of innumerable fouls (with both side equally guilty), Gary Hart giving away a free kick against Kit Symons, the kick being so far back that Alex Kolinko came out from his goal to get play underway once more. Hart was caught offside, then to even up the count Noel Whelan was adjudged to have fouled Dean Blackwell, as play continued to take a while to settle down.

A dangerous looking cross sent in by Graham Barrett was well cleared by Kit before Hart got a shot in from close range that Alex managed to push away for a corner. The ball came back in and Julian Gray cleared the danger, Palace winning a corner at the other end. Tommy Black fired this one in, Ivar Ingimarsson getting the ball clear, and as it made its' way to the other end of the park first Paul Brooker tried to cross the ball in before ex-Palace favourite Simon Rodger got a cross through that Alex cleared safely. A foul by Danny Cullip on Dele Adebola relieved the pressure, and Kit got proceedings away from the resulting free kick. Brooker tried another cross, but again Alex was equal to the task, plucking the ball out of the air with ease.

Dele put in a cross that Ingimarsson did well to clear safely away, and then Cullip cleared the danger as Danny Butterfield sent the ball back into the zone. Danny B then tried a shot from long-range, the ball climbing too rapidly and disappearing well over the top of the crossbar. Dele was then pinged for a foul on Kerry Mayo, but all resulting attacks by the Brighton side were repelled by a stalwart Palace defence. Brooker was then caught offside, and the same fate befell Barrett before Tommy tried a cross into the area that went straight out of play before it could even start to look like anything dangerous.

A foul by Cullip on Noel led to Steve Thomson firing a shot at goal that Dave Beasant did well to tip over the top, the corner being cleared by Richard Carpenter. Hart missed a good opportunity from close range as his shot went wide, then Danny Granville was booked for a foul on Hart, something that was to have a profound effect on the game a little later.

Noel got a good cross in that the keeper dealt with fairly easily, and shortly after Tommy wasted another corner to Palace before Carpenter was guilty of yet another foul for the game, this time on Tommy. Brooker fired a shot at goal that went wide before Barrett tried his luck; Alex catching with ball with what appeared little effort. Blackwell cleared another corner to Palace, and then Noel fired a shot at goal that once again went wide of the desired result. Dele fouled Blackwell, the free kick leading to Mayo crossing the ball in and a good clearance was effected by Danny G.

Shaun Derry fired a shot at goal that was blocked by the defence before the compliment was returned at the other end, Steve blocking a shot taken by Barrett. Carpenter then tried a shot that Alex did well to hang on to, and then Brooker headed the ball over the top of the crossbar. Noel was back to block the next opportunity, fired in by Paul Watson before Brighton made their first (and what turned out to be their last) substitution of the match, replacing Cullip with Robbie Pethick, an apparent injury befalling the Brighton player.

With little further action other than a couple of silly fouls by both sides, time ran out, and the teams trooped off for a well-deserved break, though the fans would have liked to have seen a goal or two in the game by this stage. What the respective managers may or may not have said during the interval we will never know, but both would surely have been stressing that the teams had both had chances, and it was up to them to get out there and convert some of those into what really counts - goals.

Immediately at the start of the second half Palace made their first change, Gary Borrowdale replacing Julian, but there seemed little change to the way the sides played, end-to-end stuff seeing very little action in the area of the goalmouth. The fouls continued unabated from both sides, the constant stop-start play annoying fans from both sides. Noel was caught offside before he got another chance, his attempt being beaten out by the defence and coming straight back to Steve, who blasted his shot over the bar.

Barrett missed a chance at opening the scoring, his header going just wide before Carpenter fired in a cross that Alex dealt with quite easily once again. Brooker tried the next shot on goal, Kit managing to smother the attempt, and then Barrett fired a goalwards bound shot, Alex once again coming to the rescue. Barrett tried again, but his shot this time went wide of the mark, and Palace decided on their second change for the match, Gareth Williams coming on to replace Dele.

Shortly after Danny G was booked for a second time, for a foul on Gary Hart, and of course the referee was given no option other than to turn the yellow card into a red one, and Danny found himself off for an early bath. Palace now needed to take stock of the situation, and work out a strategy to play out the match with only 10 men on the pitch. As all this happened Carpenter fired a shot goalwards, but again Alex spotted the danger, and cut out the chance.

Brooker was caught offside before a corner to Brighton saw Barrett fire a shot that went wide of the post, and the next chance they had was well cleared by Gary, who looks better and better each time he takes to the field. As Brighton built up the pressure Palace made their final substitution, Will Antwi replacing Tommy to give the side a slightly more defensive look.

Brighton won another corner that was once again wasted before Noel was booked for a foul on Blackwell, and another corner to the home side broke down as Rodger was found to have fouled Steve in a goalmouth scramble. Watson tried to get the ball into the area, Will forcing it out for yet another corner to the home side, and as Pethick tried a shot the defence cleared the danger once more.

Rodger failed to connect properly with a good chance, the ball missing the upright and flying away to safety, from the Palace point of view, and Hart fired another shot over the top of the bar. Watson got in on the act, firing a shot that Alex did well to hang on to, then at the other end Gareth sent in a shot that flew well over the top of the bar. There was barely time for the game to be restarted, though Watson did get the final chance at goal, Alex doing well to avert the danger once again; and the game came to a depressing finish, with neither side able to take a decent chance on goal all night.

Palace now await the visit of Sheffield United a week on Saturday, but in the meantime they are surely going to have to get a bit more practice at set-pieces. United are not sitting third in the table for no reason, and we will need to be on our game if we hope to take maximum points for the encounter. They have 10 days to get things sorted out, and hopefully the Palace faithful can look forward to a good show on the day.

Colin Pryce

Brighton & Hove Albion: Dave Beasant, Ivar Ingimarsson, Danny Cullip (Robbie Pethick 42), Dean Blackwell, Paul Watson, Richard Carpenter, Paul Brooker, Simon Rodger, Kerry Mayo, Gary Hart, Graham Barrett.

Substitutes not used: Charlie Oatway, Nathan Jones, Shaun Wilkinson, Will Packham.

Crystal Palace: Alex Kolinko, Danny Butterfield, Darren Powell, Kit Symons, Danny Granville, Julian Gray (Gary Borrowdale 45), Tommy Black (Will Antwi 76), Shaun Derry, Steve Thomson, Dele Adebola (Gareth Williams 65), Noel Whelan.

Substitutes not used: Cedric Berthelin, Wayne Routledge.

Attendance: 6,786

Referee: Mr P Durkin (Dorset)