Crystal Palace - 1 (Freedman 57.)
Coventry City - 3 (Boothroyd 12. Hall 36. McSheffrey 75.)

Following four wins in the League the wheels were bound to fall off at some time, but it might have been a different story had our first goal not been disallowed. Still, as things transpired, the other results went our way, and we were not too disadvantaged in our League position, but it would have been nice to have picked up a bit of ground on the leaders.

Julian Joachim got things underway, but the first movement forward came from a Palace free kick, which was passed around for a while before we lost possession. A free kick, taken by Julian Gray, won us the first corner of the match, but Magnus Hedman dealt with the cross well enough to keep the ball out. A free kick to Coventry evened that score up, but a foul on Julian brought that move to a rapid halt.

So, a second free kick to Palace saw a cross come in from Danny Granville. Clinton Morrison smashed the ball into the back of the net, but before the Palace faithful could start to celebrate the "goal" was disallowed, presumably for offside, though exactly how is beyond most who saw it. A shot at the other end by Colin Healy did not even look like threatening Alex Kolinko's goal, and the match continued much in the same vein, very much end-to-end stuff this.

Another free kick to Coventry saw the ball end up with Lee Carsley, who blasted his shot wide of the players in the wall, the keeper and the goalmouth. Clinton and Dougie Freedman played Julian in well, but his shot was easily saved by Hedman in goal.

With only 12 minutes gone in the match suddenly a goal came from nowhere. Jay Boothroyd was fully 35 yards out from goal, and well out by the sideline. His shot curled over Alex in goal and slammed into the back of the net before anyone could blink, and suddenly our backs were up against the wall.

A corner to the visitors saw good defending from Tony Popovic to clear the danger area, and then Clinton put pressure on at the other end. Joachim then got free, but the defence managed to scramble back just in time to avert the danger. They really will have to be careful pushing up to gain the equaliser that they do not leave things too open at the back.

Clinton managed to get caught offside once again, and it appeared as though Coventry were having by far the best moves of the game. We were really not getting near enough, or putting on enough pressure to really worry the visitors. Aki Riihilahti then played Hayden Mullins in; his cross once again going to an offside Clinton. Just for a change Danny was found offside almost immediately after, and things were obviously not going our way.

A shot from Laurent Delorge was easily dealt with by Alex, and shortly after he did well to stop a free kick. A Coventry player was next to be caught offside, and an ironic cheer went up from the Palace audience. Richard Shaw, the ex-Palace player, did well in defence to keep Clinton out. A corner to the visitors was kept out by Julian, but the returning shot gave us all a few moments of panic before Alex managed to safely deal with the danger.

A few good moves from Palace finally saw them knocking the ball around and keeping possession, but they never really looked like threatening the goal. Another free kick to Coventry saw further disaster befall Palace. Carsley touched the ball to Marcus Hall, and his shot went through the wall and past the diving Alex to double the lead, and leave Palace in all sorts of strife with still almost 10 minutes left to run before the break.

Yet another free kick, this time to Palace was taken by Dougie, but his shot cannoned off the wall, in contrast to the visitors effort at the other end. To add to our woes Tony was injured, and Dean Austin had to take his place on the field, and then Boothroyd, the scorer of the first goal, threw a punch at Danny. Believe it or not Danny was sent off for retaliating, but then the referee evened things up by sending the Coventry player off too, and both sides were reduced to 10 men.

Simon Rodger then came on for Kit Symons, but whether this was a tactical move or the result of a further injury was really unclear to the crowd. A final chance fell to Hayden, but his shot did not even look like penetrating the defence, and the half time whistle sounded. Palace went off to lick their wounds and to listen to the wise words of Trevor Francis, whilst Coventry would simply have to listen to their boss telling them to give him more of the same in the second half.

Early in the second stanza of play Julian curled in a free kick, but Aki was unable to jump well enough to meet the ball, and the glance off his shoulder was easily dealt with by Hedman. Simon then curled in a kick that just missed Dougie, and a good cross to Jamie Smith saw his shot being deflected for a corner. Aki got into the action again, but he simply managed to get himself penalised for a foul, and the visitors were once again in possession of the ball.

Shaw managed to steal the ball off the toes of Dougie, and then Julian managed to get himself caught offside according to the same linesman that was finding all the infringements so far. A foul on Jamie saw Palace knocking the ball around, retaining the ball in their own control, but it was really not getting us any nearer to scoring a goal. Palace were piling on the pressure though, and at one stage it was noted that there was not a soul, other than Alex, in the Palace half!

Aki made a good run through the centre of the field, touched the ball to Dougie, who fired a good cross back in to Aki who had continued his run straight through. Unfortunately the keeper managed to get down to the ball just before Aki arrived, and the opportunity was lost.

We were not to be denied much longer though, and the opportunity came with the next move forward.

A long ball forward found Dougie, and after chesting the ball down he shot a left-footed shot straight past Hedman, which hit the post and just managed to cross the line to get us back in the game. Coventry then managed to get clear on goal, but Healy's control let him down at the last moment. Dougie was stopped from getting through again, and then Coventry sent Gary McSheffrey on for Joachim.

Carsley then managed to get through clean on goal, and it appeared inevitable that he must score. In what will rank with his best saves Alex dived across the goal square, and miraculously saved the day for Palace. Simon and Dougie combined well once again, but a cross, aimed for Clinton, went nowhere near him. Tommy Black came on for Jamie, and immediately made an impact, making a good run down the right hand side of the field, which caught the defence unaware, as all the attacks from Palace had previously been down the left hand side.

A corner taken by Simon was well cleared by the defence once again, and it was starting to appear that Coventry would manage to hang on to their lead. Tommy made another good run, but lost his footing when approaching goal, and another chance was wasted. Aki, Simon and Julian were dominating play in the centre of the field, but the chances were not telling where it counted, in the goalmouth. Simon fired in a shot from 20 yards, but though he beat the keeper he was unable to get the ball below the crossbar, and the ball thumped into the woodwork and back out to safety.

Most of the play was now going with Palace, but the final touches were just letting us down. Of course, such cavalier play was eventually going to see us caught out at the back, and it did. A long clearance by the keeper found the substitute McSheffrey in clear space, and he simply volleyed the ball past Alex to really finish off the proceedings for the night.

Healy came off to be replaced by Robert Betts, but another attack culminated with Aki firing a shot from fully 40 yards out which just went wide of the post, with, believe it or not, the keeper beaten. Curtis Fleming fired a shot goalwards, but it never really looked likely to end up in the back of the net, and the game was now starting to get away from us. Dougie then got a header in on goal, but a good save by Hedman kept the advantage with Coventry. A corner for Palace was headed away by the 9 man defence that Coventry were now employing, and a corner to Palace, taken by Tommy, went straight to the keeper once more.

With only two minutes of added on time neither side got a shot in on goal, and the Palace side traipsed off somewhat disappointed with their evening's labours, but Coventry would have been well pleased to take home the three points, and to have narrowed the gap on the leading sides.

Palace will now look forward to the trip to meet Sheffield Wednesday on the weekend, and hopefully will bring home the points to maintain the gap on the other sides that are breathing down our neck for the promotion playoff spots.

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Alex Kolinko, Jamie Smith (Tommy Black 64), Hayden Mullins, Kit Symons (Simon Rodger 45), Curtis Fleming, Aki Riihilahti, Julian Gray, Tony Popovic (Dean Austin 40), Danny Granville, Dougie Freedman, Clinton Morrison.

Substitutes not used: Jovan Kirovski, Matt Clarke.

Coventry City: Magnus Hedman, Marcus Hall, Richard Shaw, Gary Breen, Lee Fowler, Lee Carsley, Barry Quinn, Laurent Delorge (Calum Davenport 90), Julian Joachim (Gary McSheffrey 60), Colin Healy (Robert Betts 78), Jay Boothroyd.

Substitutes not used: Muhamed Konjic, Gary Montgomery.

Attendance: 16,197

Referee: Mr R Styles (Waterlooville)