Crystal Palace - 0
Reading - 1 (Forster 39.)

Needless to say we desperately needed the points in this match to get ourselves within "spitting" distance of the top six, but Reading were looking to consolidate in that area, and duly took the points home. We will now need to regroup to get our season back on track.

Palace kicked off, and it was Julian Gray who won the first corner of the match. The chance was wasted, but Palace maintained the pressure, and Dele Adebola made a forward move that looked promising for a moment, but the final touch was missing. A couple of passes went astray, then Reading made their first goalward move, Nicky Forster firing a header straight at Alex Kolinko, though a free kick had already been awarded, negating the chance.

The free kick was taken by Alex, but ex-Palace player Matthew Upson took the ball away from an advancing Andy Johnson. Julian attempted a shot that went straight to Marcus Hahnemann, and threaten as we might we seemed unable to break down what rules as the best defensive record in the League. Kit Symons had to be wary when making a last ditch tackle on Tony Rougier, but he did well to rob the attacker without further incident.

A shot from distance, by Dele, went wide of the upright, then a free kick, taken by Shaun Derry, deflected off the defensive wall, and Reading were able to clear the danger. AJ was then brought down, and once again the free kick failed to clear the wall, this time going out for a throw to the visitors.

Upson received the first yellow card, for a poorly timed tackle on Steve Thomson, and Rougier got one soon after for a tackle on Danny Granville, but still Palace could not take advantage of the situation. The tackle on Steve had taken an early toll on the player, and long before planned he limped off, to be replaced by crowd favourite Wayne Routledge.

He was very quickly in to the action, as AJ flicked a clever pass to him, but he was unable to control the ball, and the result was yet another goal kick to the visitors. Forster was caught offside, but the goal was not to be long coming. He managed to steal a little space, getting past Darren Powell, and quickly he fired a low shot into the back of the net before Alex had time to get down to the ball.

Suddenly, despite all the pressure at the other end we found ourselves a goal down, but to our credit we fought on, and managed to force a corner at the other end. Of course this was wasted, and half time arrived.

Reading kicked off the second half, and a poor clearance by Darren led to a free kick to the visitors, in a somewhat dangerous position, and a yellow card for the Palace defender. The free kick led to a corner, but the shot, from Forster, went straight into the side netting without worrying the Palace defence. Another corner to Reading was cleared by the Palace defence, and though the build up towards goal was good the final touches were still missing, and Palace appeared to be destined to not even get a shot on goal.

A cross floated in, but Hahnemann held it easily as both AJ and Wayne attempted to get a head to it, then Dele fired a shot in that the keeper held on to. The ball flew to the other end, but as Forster seemed destined to get clear on goal once again Darren dispossessed him, and the danger was averted. Shaun managed to get clear, but his shot went once again straight to the keeper. Another corner to Reading was cleared by Alex, then Wayne made good ground, rounding a number of defenders before firing in a cross that went behind for a corner to Palace. Again the chance was wasted, and Trevor Francis decided to replace Julian with Tommy Black.

His first action was to win a corner, but the shot, by Wayne, went out for another corner, which the keeper held on to before AJ could reach it. Another corner saw the Reading keeper go down in a melee of players, and the referee deemed that he had been fouled and awarded a free kick to the visitors. Tommy pushed a shot from an acute angle, but the keeper was well aware of events and again held on to the ball. Another ex-Palace player, in the form or Ricky Newman, came on to replace Kevin Watson, but Palace still got the ball to the other end, this time Danny putting a shot into the side netting, to match the one from Reading earlier in the game.

A period of further pressure, by the Palace side, could still not buy a goal, and Reading bought a little more time by replacing Andy Hughes with Martin Butler. Three minutes of added on time did very little for the Palace cause, and apart from an effort, by Tommy, which went well over the bar the action was over.

On Saturday we face further ex-Palace players, though this one will be fairly recent in the form of Steve Kabba. One hopes that he does not score against us, and that we can come away from Bramall Lane with all three points in the bag, and our push towards the promotion spots back on track.

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Alex Kolinko, Danny Granville, Hayden Mullins, Darren Powell, Kit Symons, Danny Butterfield, Shaun Derry, Julian Gray (Tommy Black 67), Steve Thomson (Wayne Routledge 34), Dele Adebola, Andrew Johnson.

Substitutes not used: Nikolaos Michopoulos, Tony Popovic, Aki Riihilahti.

Reading: Marcus Hahnemann, Nicholas Shorey, Matthew Upson, Adrian Williams, James Harper, Andy Hughes (Martin Butler 88), Graeme Murty, Kevin Watson (Ricky Newman 81), Nicky Forster, Tony Rougier, John Salako.

Substitutes not used: Jamie Ashdown, John Mackie, Jamie Cureton.

Attendance: 15,712

Referee: Mr D Elleray (Middlesex)