Crystal Palace - 1 (Edwards 8.)
Coventry City - 1 (Jackson 90.)

Palace had achieved two draws and a win under the stewardship of Kit Symons, and another three points in this game would have proved very welcome. Of course, our record over recent years has not been that good against Coventry, but the side very nearly pulled off a miracle win. If they had, things would have looked so much better.

On a wet and windy afternoon Coventry got the match underway, but almost immediately Palace won a corner courtesy of Tommy Black, and as he played the ball into the centre Gavin Ward was only able to turn the ball back over for another corner. This time Michael Hughes took the kick, but Ward easily held on to the inswinging ball. Shaun Derry crossed the ball in, but Andy Johnson just failed to get to the ball as the keeper gathered it up, and as the attention turned to the opposite end of the pitch Gary Borrowdale did well to keep Andy Morrell away from any chance of crossing the ball into the centre.

Dougie Freedman took a shot on goal; though his effort never caused any trouble to the Coventry goalmouth, and moments later Dougie got the ball through to AJ, but the defence was able to deal with any danger that presented itself. A corner was won by Palace, and once again Tommy fired the ball in. This time though Rob Edwards was in perfect position at the back post, and he made no mistake heading the ball straight into the back of the net.

Muhamed Konjic fired a shot over the top of the bar, though he did try to steer it goalwards from a fair distance out, but the next 10 minutes passed with little action of note. Craig Pead got a last moment tackle in on Tommy, who managed to control the ball just a few yards out, and looked set to shoot, and then a corner came out to Tommy, who fired a strong shot, unfortunately straight into the waiting arms of the keeper. Dougie almost got free, but Konjic's tackle was enough just to put him off his shot.

Dougie and Danny Butterfield found themselves free in the area, but the chance was wasted as Dougie failed to control the ball, and moments later Curtis Fleming and Gary McAllister went down in a clash of bodies, and with AJ down at the other end of the pitch Coventry at least held the numeric advantage in the match. A good cross in by Coventry found Dele Adebola, but Thomas Myhre came out and claimed the ball before the big striker could pounce. As AJ was still struggling it was decided to carry him off, and Wayne Routledge came on to cheers from the Palace faithful. Tommy swung in a free kick that Tony Popovic only managed to head over the bar before Dele was caught offside at the other end. A free kick saw Youssef Safri fire the ball goalwards, and it was Konjic that rose above the crowd in the face of the goal, his attempt going just over the top of the bar.

Michael did well to dispossess Michael Doyle when things started to look just a little bit dangerous, and at he other end Tommy fired a rasping shot at goal that the keeper could only parry. If only Dougie had succeeded in getting on the end of the rebound things could have looked decidedly different for the start of the second half. Tommy did fire another shot at goal, though Ward managed to push the shot just wide of the post, and Doyle got booked, the official reason being dissent.

Morrell got his head on a goalwards bound ball, but Thomas did very well to stop the ball just as it looked as if Coventry might get on the scoreboard. McAllister went off, to be replaced by Johnnie Jackson, and Adebola became the second name in the book as the referee ruled that he had dived in an attempt to win a penalty. Shaun ran on to a pass that came in from Dougie, but unfortunately the ball ran just out of play before he could reach it, and without any further action the sides marched off, to a cheer from the Palace supporters, who would have been hoping for more of the same in the second half.

One can be sure that Kit Symons would be hoping for a repeat dose in the second stanza, but things just don't seem to follow the script most days.

Palace kicked off in the second half, and Coventry made another change, this time bringing on Patrick Suffo for Adebola, his first action being caught in an offside position. A corner to our visitors saw Thomas hold on to the ball just as it looked as if the visiting players might attack. Rob cut out the next chance for Coventry, but almost immediately after Thomas had to dive to save a shot from Jackson when the striker got free on goal. Tony cut out the next chance, though a corner was conceded, and though that was eventually dealt with the chances to Coventry were coming too fast and thick for most supporters liking.

Wayne tried a snapshot from distance as the ball fell to him, but his effort went wide of the mark. Curtis then had to kick the ball clear as Suffo made good ground in the danger area, and then Palace won a corner that Dougie really should have buried deep in the back of the net, his shot going over the top of the bar as Calum Davenport put just enough pressure on him to put him off a clear shot.

Tony cleared a good cross from Pead before Julian Joachim could pounce, and then Thomas saved a half chance fired in by Suffo. Doyle finally managed to put the ball in the back of the net, only to see the flag raised, ruling out his strike, and as Wayne made his way up the other end his pace proved too much for Safri, who resorted to pulling his shirt to hold Wayne back, and got himself booked for his trouble.

Dougie was caught offside before Tommy and Wayne combined in a good raid, the keeper stealing the ball off Tommy as he looked sure to head the ball into the back of the net. Michael was booked for a bad tackle on Joachim, and Safri fired the resulting free kick over the top of the bar. Coventry made their final change of the match, Steve Staunton taking the place of Morrell, and Palace made their next change with Ben Watson coming on for Michael.

Doyle fired a shot wide of the post as Suffo became the next name in the book for a tackle on Curtis that was very late, and a free kick to Coventry saw Suffo again fire the ball over the top of the bar. Time was up, and as the Palace fans whistled for the match to end the board went up showing three minutes of added on time to go. Two of those minutes passed without incident, but then a free kick to Coventry saw Staunton fire the ball into the area, and in a mad scramble Jackson got a foot to the ball and fired the ball home before Thomas could react.

We can certainly consider this as being two points lost, but had Palace made more of their chances earlier in the match things could have been so different to the way they turned out. We now go on to meet Aston Villa in the Carling Cup, which should prove a change of pace before we get back to the grind of the League, and a return match against Preston next weekend. Seems like a simple two wins out of two games to me!

Colin Pryce

Crystal Palace: Thomas Myhre, Curtis Fleming, Tony Popovic, Rob Edwards, Shaun Derry, Tommy Black, Michael Hughes (Ben Watson 76), Danny Butterfield, Gary Borrowdale, Dougie Freedman, Andrew Johnson (Wayne Routledge 33).

Substitutes not used: Cedric Berthelin, Kit Symons, Danny Granville.

Coventry City: Gavin Ward, Stephen Warnock, Craig Pead, Calum Davenport, Muhamed Konjic, Youssef Safri, Gary McAllister (Johnnie Jackson 44), Michael Doyle, Julian Joachim, Dele Adebola (Patrick Suffo 46), Andrew Morrell (Steve Staunton 75).

Substitutes not used: Andrew Whing, Scott Shearer.

Attendance: 14,622

Referee: Mr M Warren