West Bromwich Albion - 0
Crystal Palace - 0

Crystal Palace came to visit the lads at The Hawthorns knowing that they were unbeaten this season. Considering our own position in the League we were determined to take something away from the match, and though our chances were few and far between we achieved our objective with our second consecutive clean sheet in the competition. Sadly we did not score, for the first time this outing, but Steve Coppell will be well pleased with the point to arrest our recent run of away losses.

Whilst West Brom's record is impressive, it is their away record that stands up best. At home they had drawn all four matches, and this result stopped them climbing into the "serious contenders" position that they will be desperately seeking.

Action seemed to be lacking, in the form of attempts on goal in the first part of the game. Attempts from Daniel Gabbidon and Richard Sneekes in the first 20 minutes were well saved by Fraser Digby then Lee Hughes put his shot over the top when it looked as though he might score. Would we have a shot on goal before the break?

With only five minutes left Jamie Smith sent in a fine pass which was met by Simon Rodger, his shot going just inches wide of the mark.

The second half was only moments old when Jimmy Quinn came close, but once again Fraser was on hand to save the day. More chances to the home side came from Sneekes, who fired wide, and Paul Raven with a header that just couldn't find the mark. The only other action seemed to come from Matt Carbon, who also wasted his chance, and the game appeared to be petering out. An appeal for a penalty was turned down by the referee when Andy Linighan seemed to bring down Sneekes and a last second appeal, again for a penalty, came to nothing when Jamie Smith was involved in a tussle with Hughes.

So, our chances were very limited, but we came away with the point that we went for, and the hero of the afternoon was undoubtedly Fraser Digby, who made a string of fine saves between the posts.

The visit by Wolves takes place on Tuesday. Their poor form at the start of this term will have the Palace faithful looking for nothing other than a win!

Colin Pryce

West Bromwich Albion: Alan Miller, Danny Gabbidon, Paul Raven, Matthew Carbon, Larus Sigurdsson, Sean Flynn, Richard Sneekes, Andy Townsend (Enzo Maresca 32), Kevin Kilblane, Fabien De Freitas (Jimmy Quinn 46), Lee Hughes.

Substitutes not used: Phil Whitehead, Daryl Burgess, Jason Van Blerk.

Crystal Palace: Fraser Digby, Dean Austin, Fan Zhiyi, Andy Linighan, Jamie Smith, Simon Rodger (Steve Thomson 74), Hayden Mullins, Jose Antunes Fumaca, Clinton Morrison, Lee Bradbury (Chris Sharpling 75), Matthias Svensson.

Substitutes not used: Andrew Frampton, David Woozley, Matthew Gregg.

Attendance: 13,219

Referee: Mr S Mathieson (Stockport).