Crystal Palace - 2 (Black 38. 54.)
Preston North End - 0
The next free kick, also to Palace saw Hayden Mullins find Danny Butterfield who put in a great cross that Kit Symons headed against the post - what a great start that would have been had it gone in! A free kick finally went the way of Preston when Hayden tackled Alexander, but they simply managed to get caught offside from the subsequent play. Danny G then fired a shot at goal from a throw-in taken by Julian Gray, but the keeper made ground to cover the ball.
A couple of passes into the area by Palace saw Tony Popovic looking dangerous, but the ball was cut out each time before it reached him, and finally David Lucas managed to clear the danger. Alex Kolinko then came dangerously well out of his goal area to snuff out a forward move by our visitors, but as he hoofed the ball over the sideline he picked the ball up and threw it into the air, in an effort to give himself time to get back to his goalmouth. The referee saw this as "time wasting" and duly booked our keeper for his efforts.
The next booking fell to Preston when Colin Murdock was carded for a tackle on Hayden. That makes two out of two bookings that seemed somewhat harsh. Another free kick to Palace saw Shaun Derry fire the ball goalwards, but the keeper held on to it with little trouble, and the game went on. Paul McKenna cut out a cross in by Kit, and then Dele fired a shot on goal that the keeper managed to save at the last moment. Shaun tried a shot that was deflected behind, and Palace had finally won their first corner of the match. Though the ball went somewhat astray from the set piece Dele did draw a foul just on the edge of the area, which saw Danny G try a shot, unfortunately without sufficient power to trouble the keeper.
Eric Skora almost got free behind the Palace defence, but Tony and Hayden managed to recover in time to clear the danger. A pass from Dele failed to find Tommy Black but Hayden made a good run finding Julian with a beautifully weighted pass that saw another shot deflected behind for a corner. Tommy fired the ball in and Marlon Broomes headed the ball out on the other side, which Julian took. That one was cleared by Chris Lucketti, and as David Healy made his way down the length of the pitch Danny G was booked for a poor tackle, resulting in a free kick just outside the area. The chance was cleared, but Preston was starting to look dangerous on the break.
Tommy went down injured, but following treatment he was back up and running once again. Preston cleared the next free kick but the ball came back to Julian, for once down the right side of the field. In his usual manner he tried to get the ball on his favoured left foot, but with the chance cut out he centered the ball with his right, and Tommy was on hand to simply head the ball home and open our account for the day.
A corner to Preston failed to find an attacking player, and Palace once again easily cleared their lines. Richard Cresswell then got free, but Alex pulled off a fine save to maintain our lead, then a series of passes by Palace culminated in Tommy firing the ball in, hitting the post with his effort. As it transpired the shot would not have counted as he was penalised for "handball", but it was certainly a good build up by the Palace team. Tommy then had a chance that he really should have done better with. The keeper was the only person between him and goal, and whilst he considered his options the custodian got back between the sticks and was relieved to see Tommy shoot the ball straight at him.
Healy then fired the ball into the centre, but as it ran across the face of the goal there was no-one on hand to steer the ball into the back of the net. Without further action the half came to an end, and one can be assured that Trevor Francis would have been pleased with his charges, and would simply have been asking for more of the same in the second half.
Preston got that period of play underway, but it must be noted that Palace had made a change, bringing on Aki Riihilahti for Darren Powell; let's hope he is all right. A free kick to Preston was wasted when their forwards were caught offside, but it was obvious that Palace were not playing quite so far forward with the offside trap today. A good cross into the centre saw the keeper take the ball, almost literally off the head of Dele, and Julian finally got a shot on goal that went well wide of the mark. Further good play by Palace saw Aki brought down, and though all Palace supporters will tell you it was inside the area the referee ruled a free kick just outside. Tommy stepped up to take it and the ball flew through the wall that parted just nicely for him, and with the keeper totally unsighted the ball charged into the back of the net, doubling our lead, and almost certainly taking the game beyond the scope of rescue as far as our visitors were concerned.
Dele managed to get clear, but the keeper did well to keep his shot out, and Preston made their first substitution, Skora being replaced by Eddie Lewis. Dele was back in our area to clear the next Preston corner and then stormed up the other end to fire a shot just wide of the goalmouth; he must be a lot faster than many give him credit for. Broomes fired a cross in that Tyrone Mears headed goalwards, but Alex held the chance well and set Palace back on their way back up to the other end of the pitch.
Dickson Etuhu then sent a shot well over the top, and Palace decided it was time to make their final substitutions. One assumes this was purely to rest the players with the New Year's Day match in mind, as off came Dele and Tommy, and on came Ade Akinbiyi and Wayne Routledge. It was notable that both players performed their warm down in front of the crowd, who cheered their efforts for quite some time.
A cross from Julian saw Wayne head the ball just wide of the post, and Etuhu came off, being replaced by Pawel Abbott. Another shot by Wayne went wide, and then Palace won another corner that was totally wasted by a cross that went out without troubling the defence. McKenna then tried a shot, which gave very little trouble to Alex, and Iain Anderson then replaced Healy. Finally all substitutions had taken place.
There was little time left on the clock, but Anderson did find time to get caught offside before Preston won a last moment corner that Alex did well to beat out of the area. Wayne went on a run down to the other end of the pitch, but as he was unceremoniously dumped on the ground for his efforts time ran out before any action could be taken by the referee.
Three more points for Palace, and dare one say that they are looking good for at least a play-off position come the end of the season? Perhaps the fixture on Wednesday against Coventry might tell us more?
Colin Pryce
Crystal Palace: Alex Kolinko, Danny Granville, Tony Popovic, Darren Powell (Aki Riihilahti 45), Kit Symons, Tommy Black (Wayne Routledge 71), Danny Butterfield, Shaun Derry, Hayden Mullins, Julian Gray, Dele Adebola (Ade Akinbiyi 71).
Substitutes not used: Nikolaos Michopoulos, Gary Borrowdale.
Preston North End: David Lucas, Marlon Broomes, Graham Alexander, Chris Lucketti, Colin Murdock, Dickson Etuhu (Pawel Abbott 77), Paul McKenna, Tyrone Mears, Eric Skora (Eddie Lewis 61), Richard Cresswell, David Healy (Iain Anderson 86).
Substitutes not used: Teuvo Moilanen, Mark Rankine.
Attendance: 18,484
Referee: Mr A Hall (West Midlands)