Crystal Palace - 4 (Freedman 6. 14. Morrison 26. 52.)
Sheffield Wednesday - 1 (Johnson 42.)

Crystal Palace entered this match on the back of three consecutive wins, and they were obviously in no mood to do anything other than extend that run. Steve Bruce was also able to field an unchanged side from the team that took on the other Sheffield (United) during the week, maintaining Hayden Mullins as skipper with Dean Austin once again relegated to the bench.

The first chance of the match came when Dougie Freedman put in a cross that Clinton Morrison narrowly failed to get a touch to before a free kick saw Jovan Kirovski send in a good attempt, the keeper proving equal to the task. The next free kick though led to the opening goal. Hayden pushed the ball through to Clinton who simply nodded the ball down into the path of Dougie. He made no mistake, burying the ball in the back of the net, and with only 6 minutes of the game elapsed it looked as if we were in for something special today.

Good defence from Hayden and Jamie Smith saw us maintain our lead, whilst at the other end Clinton tried a shot that just went wide of the post. A corner though, was the result of his effort, and following a cross from Simon Rodger, Dougie was once again on hand to simply slam the ball home once again and double our lead. He also nearly made it three from three attempts a few minutes later, but somehow his contact with the ball let him down at the last moment.

A long range shot from Paul McLaren was the best that Wednesday could offer in reply, whilst Jovan nearly got on the scoresheet, his attempt being ruled offside following a cross from Hayden. Dougie then turned provider, his great through ball finding Clinton. This was an easy task for Clinton to convert the goal, the hard work being done by Dougie, forcing his way past the defence.

The immediate response from manager Peter Shreeves was to replace Pablo Bonvin with Michele Di Piedi, but this seemed to make little difference to the ability of the visiting side to threaten our goal. Tony Popovic was putting in a good display in defence and Clinton was causing more and more problems for Wednesday at the other end.

A free kick, once again to the Eagles, saw a good centreing ball from Tony almost finding Jovan at the goal line before our visitors finally forced their first corner of the match. Alan Quinn took the kick, but once again it was Tony who got in before Di Piedi could connect with the ball. This was followed by a good cross from Julian Gray that Clinton somehow contrived to put over the top of the crossbar before we once again won a corner, which somehow got wasted with everyone falling all over the ball in the attacking zone. Half time was approaching, could we make it four before the break? Answer - No.

There was time for a further goal though, and this time it fell to Wednesday, giving them something to hang on to for the second period of play. Confusion in the penalty area nearly led to Matt Clarke and Hayden gifting a goal to the visitors before Di Piedi made good ground down the left, crossed the ball on to an advancing Tommy Johnson who, without breaking stride, simply shot low and wide of a diving Matt in goal. Although he got a hand to the ball there was far too much pace on it for him to have any effect on the result, the ball slamming into the back of the net.

A final chance in the half fell to Aki Riihilahti, but his shot was wayward, and the whistle went to mark the break. Palace would have been relieved to not have conceded a second before the "hostilities" were halted, and now had a chance to regroup for the second stanza of play. Holding a 3-1 lead should, presumably, have given Steve a simple summing up job to bring the team back full of confidence.

The start of the second half and a second substitution made by the visitors, bringing Aaron Lescott on for Ashley Westwood. A cross from the left saw Matt immediately making a mark on this period of play; his superb take stifling any chance that Wednesday might have had to get back in this match. A corner to Palace came to naught, but following a few minutes of end-to-end play the inevitable happened, Palace once again scoring. Dougie made a great run into the area before selflessly crossing to Clinton who simply rounded Kevin Pressman in goal and tapped the ball into the back of an empty net. 4-1, and we were back on track for a cricket score.

In an attempt to keep up with our previous record of changing officials this time it was one of the linesmen that had to be changed. It made a change from changing the referee in the last two matches!

Julian then attempted to get round the keeper again, but his attempt was not as successful as that of Clinton's. In what appeared to be despair Shreeves then made his third, and final, substitution, bringing on Steven Haslam for McLaren. All three subs had now been used, and there was still more than half-an-hour to run.

Dougie then made a great run, but his attempt at a chip over the keeper would have been better employed if he had passed to others in a clearer position to score - perhaps his chance of a hat-trick was getting to him? Another chance to Dougie was well dealt with by Pressman, and suddenly we seemed to be running out of time to score any more goals.

Palace made a series of substitutions of their own at this time, progressively bringing on David Hopkin, Dean Austin and Steve Thomson for Jovan, Jamie and Aki. The only noteworthy incidents following these changes were that the visitors seemed to be enjoying a lot more possession of the ball, but this could well be explained by Palace simply laying back off the ball, and a good looking strike to Tony, who saw his effort fly wide of the mark. In injury time Clinton once again headed the ball over the top of the bar, and finally the referee brought things to a halt, much to the relief of the visiting side. We face them again next match, at Hillsborough in the next round of the Cup. Let's hope for a repeat performance.

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Matt Clarke, Steve Vickers, Tony Popovic, Hayden Mullins, Jamie Smith (Dean Austin 75), Aki Riihilahti (Steve Thomson 78), Simon Rodger, Julian Gray, Jovan Kirovski (David Hopkin 69), Dougie Freedman, Clinton Morrison.

Substitutes not used: Alex Kolinko, Andrejs Rubins.

Sheffield Wednesday: Kevin Pressman, Derek Geary, Danny Maddix, Carlton Palmer, Ashley Westwood (Aaron Lescott 46), Leigh Bromby, Paul McLaren (Steven Haslam 59), Trond-Egil Soltvedt, Alan Quinn, Tommy Johnson, Pablo Facundo Bonvin (Michele Di Piedi 27).

Substitutes not used: Owen Morrison, Chris Stringer.

Attendance: 17,066

Referee: Mr M Fletcher (Warley)