Barnsley - 1 (Dyer 41.)
Crystal Palace - 4 (Freedman 29. Riihilahti 56. Akinbiyi 83. Gray 85.)

This match took on an extra importance, as we were firstly starting to lose touch with the leading pack, and at the same time all Palace supporters still had a score to settle with keeper Kevin Miller who so dramatically walked out on the side in our darkest hour. The added "bonus" of seeing how our old friend Bruce Dyer, who for some unknown reason has not scored a goal all season in the League, made the trip a fairly jolly affair for a large contingent of supporters.

One could, of course, put money on the fact that Bruce would score against us, and as things transpired he did just that, but fortunately from our point of view we were given the pleasure of watching Kevin pick the ball out of the back of the net on numerous occasions. The final result gave us yet another "double" for the season, and pushed us back up a little closer to the leaders, with most of the teams we are chasing for a promotion play-off place faltering on the night.

Dougie Freedman, Shaun Murphy and Aki Riihilahti were all back in the line-up, and with Julian Gray also starting the match it was a far better balanced side than was the case against Sheffield United just a few days ago. Palace consequently started reasonably well, but it was the home side that looked the more threatening as the game wore on. Dyer found himself in a good position, but missed hitting the ball goalwards before Mike Sheron hit a shot over the top of the crossbar. Chris Lumsdon became the first to really hit a shot in anger, but his long-range effort was well held by Matt Clarke, once again taking up duty between the sticks, with Alex Kolinko again relegated to the bench.

With almost half an hour gone on the clock the game changed somewhat, as Palace made their first real raid on goal. Steve Thomson got the ball through to Julian on the wing, and he finally managed to get round the defence and put in a cross that found a well-positioned Dougie in exactly the right spot. He met the ball with his head, and it was in the back of the net before Miller could react to what had just transpired.

Barnsley should have equalised almost immediately after this when Kevin Donovan shot wide from just five yards out, though Barnsley did finally get level, with Dyer turning marksman from a corner, that most felt the home side did not deserve. Be that as it may, Dyer did well to turn the ball past Matt in goal, and the scores were level going into the break.

One can only assume that some enjoyed the half time fare more than others, but everything was left to play for in the second half.

In the first few minutes of the second half Dyer played a through-ball for Gary Jones, who put his shot over the top of the bar, but it was a mad goalmouth scramble that led to a goal, and fortunately it was to Palace. A free kick was directed towards Clinton Morrison, who had been fairly quiet all game, but his shot was blocked by the defence. Aki turned up in the right place though, and he was able to simply tap the ball in to the back of the net, and we were once again in the lead.

Lee Crooks and Isaiah Rankin came on for Barnsley after about 25 minutes of the half, but Palace, being ahead, were obviously saving any substitutions for possible injuries.

Maintaining our lead brought us into the last few minutes of the match, and thus Trevor Francis decided it was time for a change. He brought Ade Akinbiyi into the fray, taking off Dougie for a well-deserved rest following his heroics after being missing lately with the flu. It must be admitted it did not take more than a few seconds for him to score.

Julian put in a cross from the left, and Ade stole in to bury the ball in the back of the net past a stationary Miller in goal. The celebrations were a pleasure to behold, especially for those of us that have been urging the Palace fans to get behind Ade. It must be admitted he received far better treatment from the traveling Palace contingent than he did at home, but let's hope this goal improves things from now on.

From here on in we were really coasting, and as there was little time left it seemed as if there would be no further action in this match. But of course, we were all wrong.

For all season long the supporters have been tipping Julian to score his opening goal of the season, and sure enough, almost immediately following Ade's strike he popped up and made his own strike at goal. Making his usual trademark run up the left hand side of the field, he cut in, drew Miller out of his goal, and proceeded to calmly slip the ball past the advancing keeper to make the scoreline read Barnsley 1 - Palace 4.

The last five minutes went by in a blur, though in truth Ade really should have scored his second when Clinton once again played him into space, but this time his shot was well saved by Miller.

Based on this performance all Palace fans should now be looking forward to the Grimsby match this weekend, though few will be looking forward to the trip north. A similar result would be rather nice though, wouldn't it?

Needless to say Trevor was more than delighted with the result of the match, and was particularly effusive in his praise of Ade. To me, the man-of-the-match was Julian, who proved that he should be in the starting line-up each and every week, and not loafing on the bench for most of the match. Perhaps Trevor might consider putting him on the field for the next few matches?

Colin Pryce

Barnsley: Kevin Miller, David Mulligan, Chris Barker, Chris Morgan, Steve Chettle, Kevin Donovan (Lee Crooks 71), Gary Jones, Chris Lumsdon, Darren Barnard, Bruce Dyer (Isaiah Rankin 71), Mike Sheron.

Substitutes not used: Andy Marriott, Mitch Ward, Carl Regan.

Crystal Palace: Matt Clarke, Jamie Smith, Dean Austin, Hayden Mullins, Dougie Freedman (Ade Akinbiyi 83), Clinton Morrison, Steve Thomson (Simon Rodger 90), Aki Riihilahti, Curtis Fleming, Shaun Murphy, Julian Gray (Jovan Kirovski 90).

Substitutes not used: Alex Kolinko, Tommy Black.

Attendance: 11,207

Referee: Mr M Fletcher (Warley)