Crystal Palace - 2 (Forssell 50. 78.)
Stockport County - 2 (Wilbraham 5. Fradin 67.)

Torrential rain and cool conditions to say the least could not dampen the Palace supporters appetite for this match, not following four wins in a row. Unfortunately it was the visitors though that started the match the better, and for a while there it looked as though it was just going to be one of those poor days for Palace that the long suffering fans have become so used to. This scenario though did not take into account young Mikael Forssell, the subject of an FA dispute regarding his return to Chelsea.

Stockport made the best of the poor conditions, but fortunately for Palace the rain eased after about a quarter of an hour and they gradually fought their way back into the match.

Following the kick off it took only five minutes for the visitors to register their first goal. A corner taken by Kent Bergersson floated in, and poor defending allowed Aaron Wilbraham a simple tap into the back of the net at the far post. Ali Gibb then fired one over the bar and Kevin Cooper forced Alex Kolinko into a fine save before Palace even looked like scoring.

As the half wore on Palace started to assert their dominance in mid-field, and it was Mikael Forssell that looked due to score before Mike Flynn dispossessed him at the last moment. Jamie Pollock then miss-hit the ball when perfectly placed only a few yards out. It seemed as if we were going to go to the break one-nil down, but then up popped Clinton Morrison to head the ball past Andy Dibble, deputizing in goal for Carlo Nash. As the Palace crowd began their celebrations the goal was disallowed as Clinton was ruled to be offside, and the crowd glumly took their seats once again, somehow concerned that this really was not going our way.

The second half got underway, and in order to show we had the ability that most supporters believed we had this time it was Palace that took only five minutes to score. Hayden Mullins sent in a perfect cross, which Mikael met and placed under the keeper to put us back on level terms. It was the perfect answer, and the crowd now got right behind the team, willing them on to finish off the game.

Despite mounting the pressure, it was Stockport that answered next, following a rare breakaway move. Alex saw a cross come in from Bergersson, but somehow he mistimed his move leaving Karim Fradin with the simple task of heading the ball into an empty net. Once again we were behind the eight ball.

Palace has proved of late that they are never beaten until the final whistle sounds, and they piled on the pressure in an attempt to find the equaliser. Morrison and Julian Gray both missed good opportunities to level the score, before Mikael duly obliged. Tommy Black made a good move before firing in a pass that Mikael got on to just inside the area. His shot screamed past the keeper, and once again we were back on level terms.

The remainder of the match passed with little incident, and though not the best result in the world for the home supporters we realise that we simply cannot win them all. To take a point under the circumstances is a creditable effort, and everyone will now look forward to the match on Tuesday, when we can possibly go forward to a plum tie against Manchester United.

Meanwhile, Alan Smith should be more than pleased with the resilience shown by the players, and hopefully we have heard the last of any possibility of sending Mikael back to Chelsea before his full one season loan period is over. He was certainly everyone's man of the match.

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Alex Kolinko, Dean Austin, Fan Zhiyi Hayden Mullins, Simon Rodger (Steve Thomson 26), Clinton Morrison, Tommy Black, Julian Gray (Wayne Carlisle 63), Mikael Forssell, Jamie Pollock, Craig Harrison (Jamie Smith 75).

Substitutes not used: Andrew Frampton, Matthew Gregg.

Stockport County: Andy Dibble, Shane Nicholson, Mike Flynn, Peter Clark, Kevin Cooper, Ali Gibb, Jarkko Wiss (Colin Woodthorpe 89), Karim Fradin, Andy Tod, Aaron Wilbraham, Kent Bergersson (Layton Maxwell 81).

Substitutes not used: Lee Jones, Rob Clare, Phil Carratt.

Attendance: 18,819

Referee: Mr S Baines (Chesterfield).