Crystal Palace - 2 (Granville 47. Routledge 70.)
Gillingham - 2 (Perpetuini 23. Mullins og 66.)

Quite a change seemed to come over the team, for we featured two new goalkeepers in the line-up, Nik Michopoulos on the pitch, and Sven Scheuer on the bench. Palace played against Nik when they met Burnley earlier in the season, and that match ended up a 0-0 draw - could he keep a clean sheet today? Let's hope so. Andrew Johnson was conspicuous by his absence, but a leg injury kept him off the field, and Dougie Freedman came back into the starting eleven.

Guy Ipoua and Rod Wallace got the match underway, and the first real action was a free kick to the visitors, which David Perpetuini put well over the top of the bar. A couple of early touches for Nik hopefully helped to settle the nerves a little, and he managed to set Wayne Routledge on a good run that saw a cross that Dele Adebola just failed to get to. Paul Shaw then made a good run to the other end, but the move was well cut out by a resolute Palace defence. Dougie and Jason Brown collided going for a cross in from Danny Butterfield, and though it was not immediately obvious, it was going to have repercussions shortly after.

A ball through to Dele found Wayne in the box, but the best he managed was a corner that Julian Gray took, Aki Riihilahti forcing another corner. The defence dealt well with that one, and for a while the play seemed to stay in the midfield area. A poor goal kick by Brown merely served to show the extent of his injury, presumably picked up in the clash with Dougie, and Vince Bartram immediately replaced him.

Wayne then chased the ball, and somewhat miraculously got to it right by the line, sent in a great cross, and Dele allowed the ball to run through to Dougie, his shot unfortunately going straight to the waiting keeper. The exuberance of youth (from Wayne) certainly led to that opportunity. Another shot from Dougie saw the keeper just manage to deflect the ball behind for a corner, and with the ball sailing in from Julian a header from Darren Powell went straight over the top.

A series of throw-ins to the visitors resulted in a shot being fired in by Wallace, but though Nik did very well to save the goalward bound ball it bounced clear of him, and Perpetuini was on hand to bundle the ball over the line to open the scoring for the afternoon.

A pass into the area from Danny B failed to find Julian at the back post, and the following move saw Danny Granville caught offside. Wallace managed to avoid the offside trap at the other end, and his header found Guy Ipoua, his shot bringing a good save from Nik.

The defence blocked a shot from Hayden Mullins, and then Danny B hit a great shot that hit the bar and bounced safely away, much to the regret of the Palace faithful at the ground. Another cross in from Wayne was well held by the keeper, and this was followed by a shot from Julian that went way over the top of the crossbar. Wayne wasted another chance, and Palace went to the break a goal down.

At the start of the second half Trevor Francis made an immediate substitution, bringing Tommy Black on for Julian, which was certainly an attacking move. Though he never even touched the ball, whilst Gillingham were worrying about what kind of formation Palace might play following this move Aki and Dougie combined well, the pass came out to Wayne, and his cross found the waiting Danny G, who made no mistake scoring his second goal in three matches. Now - that's more like it Palace, back on equal terms, and we can now go looking for the winner!

A corner to Gillingham saw Ipoua hit a shot that was well defended by Darren, and then Wayne was fouled by Leon Johnson, bringing a yellow card for the Gillingham man. The resulting free kick was played in by Danny G, but the ball skimmed off the head of Dele, and sailed harmlessly away from the goal, the result being a goal kick for the Gills. Bartram held on well to the next attacking raid on his area, but he was totally out of position the next time, Tommy's cross finding Danny B, and his shot going just wide of the post.

Wayne took a shot at goal, but the ball went straight to the keeper, and then a corner to Gillingham saw Tony Popovic jump for the ball, but Shaw still managed to get a shot in, the ball being blocked by the defence before it reached the keeper. A long-range shot by Tommy was well saved by the keeper at the Gills end, and just as one was about to say that all the chances were falling to Palace the visitors, of course, scored.

Wallace managed to get free, and his cross was contested by both Ipoua and Hayden, and though it was first thought that Ipoua had headed the ball home it was later decreed that it was, in fact, Hayden who had scored an own goal. Not good news for the Palace man, particularly after he had, recently, scored two goals to his credit.

Tommy forced yet another corner at the other end, and Paul Smith sent the cross over for another corner straight away. Danny B placed the ball and drove in a good cross to Aki, who totally missed the header that should have leveled the scores. The ball fell kindly though to Wayne on the edge of the area, and he fired in a great shot that sailed into the top corner, past the despairing dive of the keeper. Back on level terms, and still there was time to find a winner.

Tony conceded a corner for the sake of safety, and the cross in was well dealt with by the Palace defence, and at the other end Tommy tried a shot that resulted in another corner for the home team, the keeper tipping the ball away from the goal. This time the cross came in and Tony hit the bar with a header that was going to easily beat the keeper. That's twice we've hit the bar, can someone get it raised a little?

A header from Dougie went straight once again into the waiting hands of Bartram, and Gillingham decided to make their second substitution, Tommy Johnson coming on for Wallace. Another free kick saw the ball headed away by Barry Ashby, but Danny B got a shot straight back in that went just wide of the post. Palace made their second substitution, bringing Shaun Derry on for Dele, and thus we reverted once more to two genuine strikers instead of the three we had previously. Wayne forced yet another corner, and once again Palace wasted the chance; then Aki fired in a cross that Dougie just failed to connect with.

With three minutes added on for injury time the time flashed by, and though Palace had some pretty looking possession of the football they failed to even look like converting it into goals. The final whistle came, and though many may look on it as two points lost, I would prefer to see it as a point gained, for Palace came back, not once, but twice from a goal behind, to level the scores. They played by far the more attractive football, particularly in the second half, and were just a little unlucky not to convert one more of their many chances. Of course, it is goals that wins matches, and Palace must somehow learn to make the most of the many opportunities that they manage to create. Don't be surprised if Palace score a hat full of goals in one of the next few games that they play!

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Nikolaos Michopoulos, Danny Butterfield, Darren Powell, Tony Popovic, Danny Granville, Wayne Routledge, Hayden Mullins, Aki Riihilahti, Julian Gray (Tommy Black 45), Dougie Freedman, Dele Adebola (Shaun Derry 74).

Substitutes not used: Sven Scheuer, Dean Austin, Andrejs Rubins.

Gillingham: Jason Brown (Vince Bartram 15), Paul Smith, Barry Ashby, Nayton Nosworthy, Guy Ipoua, Paul Shaw, Leon Johnson, Adrian Pennock, Chris Hope, Rod Wallace (Tommy Johnson 74), David Perpetuini.

Substitutes not used: Richard Rose, Danny Spiller, Andrew Crofts.

Attendance: 15,699

Referee: Mr P Taylor (Hertfordshire)