Crystal Palace - 0
Leicester City - 0

This match was the one that we all hoped would see the Eagles soaring back up the table, but Leicester came to town with other ideas. As many pundits put it, they came to take home a point, and in this they succeeded very well. I guess we must just be thankful they did not come to take all three points.

Despite a reasonable start to the game it seemed that all the Palace crosses into the area were coming in high, and with only Dougie Freedman and Andy Johnson to aim for, surely these crosses should have been played in on the deck? A free kick to Leicester found James Scowcroft, but his header missed the target, and then another cross into the area took a while to clear before Darren Powell managed to hoof the ball away.

Danny Granville managed to get free, putting in a good cross that AJ headed down, unfortunately just out of reach of the advancing Dougie. Shortly after a mistake in defence led to Scowcroft getting a good shot on goal, but Matt Clarke was on hand to avert any danger.

Dougie put in a great run before pushing a pass to AJ who skipped pass the defence but then put his shot just wide of the post. Danny G then got a cross into the centre, but Shaun Derry was unable to connect with the ball, and the chance was wasted. To finish off the first half of play Tony Popovic managed to get his head to the ball, but his shot went just wide once more, and the scores remained locked at 0-0.

Both managers would, presumably, have been pleased with the scoreline, but not the flow of the play, as fouls, free kicks, and stoppages had marred the first half of play.

Things did not really improve in the second half either. AJ made a good run down the left side of the field before firing a slippery pass to Danny G. He in turn pushed the ball across the danger area, but Steve Thomson saw his shot, which was somewhat rushed, sail harmlessly over the top of the bar. Yet another good chance wasted.

Trevor Benjamin won a free kick that Matt Elliott headed just over the top, and Palace, in the form of Trevor Francis, decided it was time for a change of personnel. In an attacking move he brought Dele Adebola on for Curtis Fleming, and he almost made an immediate impact, rising in the goalmouth area to head a cross from AJ into the path of Hayden Mullins, but again the shot was forced out by the defence. The ball only went out as far as Danny G though, and he sent it straight back to Dele who was unlucky enough to see the shot well saved by Ian Walker in the City goal.

Attempts from both Hayden and AJ also kept Walker active, and a shot from Dele looked all but in when he got past the keeper, but Elliott scraped it off the line. Stefan Oakes came on for Jordan Stewart, but neither side was making any headway on the scoresheet. Palace once again found themselves up against only 10 men when the referee sent Gerry Taggart off for two yellow cards in the space of only about two minutes, but as usual Palace still couldn't make the extra man count.

Both sides made substitutions, Matt Heath coming on for Paul Dickov whilst Wayne Routledge came on for Steve on our side of the pitch. Shaun did come close to scoring, his solo effort forcing the keeper to just tip the ball over the top. Despite a last-minute substitution when Shaun broke his nose in a tackle, bringing Aki Riihilahti into the game, the match came to an inconclusive end, and Trevor will be starting to wonder where our next goal is coming from. If he isn't, then we certainly are! This makes two matches in a row that we have failed to score in, and though it is nice to keep a clean sheet for once (well done the defence), we need someone to be poking the goals in at the other end.

Here's hoping that commences with our visit to last placed Burnley this coming weekend.

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Matt Clarke, Curtis Fleming (Dele Adebola 61), Danny Granville, Hayden Mullins, Tony Popovic, Darren Powell, Danny Butterfield, Shaun Derry (Aki Riihilahti 90), Steve Thomson (Wayne Routledge 85), Dougie Freedman, Andy Johnson.

Substitutes not used: Alex Kolinko, Dean Austin.

Leicester City: Ian Walker, Matt Elliott, Andy Impey, Alan Rogers, Jordan Stewart (Stefan Oakes 75), Gerry Taggart, Junior Lewis, Billy McKinlay, Trevor Benjamin, Paul Dickov (Matt Heath 85), James Scowcroft.

Substitutes not used: Tom Williamson, Mike Price, Jon Stevenson.

Attendance: 15,440

Referee: Mr P Joslin (Newark)