Norwich City - 2 (Nielsen 42. McVeigh 45.)
Crystal Palace - 1 (Morrison 50.)

Following our good record over the years against Norwich, both home and away, I guess it was inevitable that we would end up losing this one. Of course, Norwich are also trying to get into the top six, so this was always going to be a tough fixture, but the rest of this season is almost exclusively against teams that are vying to make the playoffs, so we will now need to win our remaining games if we are to have any chance of making the final spots. I still maintain that where we are now is where we will finish; I guess we will have to wait and see how right or wrong I am.

As soon as this match got underway it was Palace that was on the attack. A free kick just in the Norwich half led to a corner to the visiting side, which fell nicely for Danny Granville to attempt a shot. The ball struck the keeper's legs, and the home side breathed a short sigh of relief. Meanwhile the Palace fans cheered on. Danny provided the next cross into the area, and he found Ade Akinbiyi, his header going just wide of the upright. Another free kick to Palace was wasted before Dougie Freedman got a shot on goal, this time the effort being blocked by Darren Kenton.

David Nielsen and Gary Holt then linked well, the latter blasting his shot wide from a good distance out before Palace forced another corner at the other end. This attempt was thrown away by Dougie, who really should have done better with the opportunity, and thus the game went on.

A free kick to Palace was taken by Steve Thomson, but his shot, though well hit, went straight to the keeper, causing him little concern. Steve then found himself just out from goal, with a shot that really should have been converted. The result? He skied the shot way over the top of the crossbar. Another corner was taken by Steve, and though Clinton Morrison was in good position the ball just eluded him, falling well for Adam Drury to clear. A free kick finally for the home side saw the Palace defence easily clear the danger, but then Phillip Mulryne took a snap at goal, that we were somewhat fortunate to see go wide.

This led to a Norwich corner, which Matt Clarke did well to punch away to safety, but suddenly shortly after this a ball played in by Kenton found Nielsen who simply chipped the ball over the well beaten Matt in goal. We were 1-0 down, and though we had had by far the best of all the exchanges over the preceding 40+ minutes, we had failed to make the most of our opportunities, and Norwich had made the most of theirs. To underline this fact right on the stroke of half time Paul McVeigh got on the end of a Steen Nedergaard centre, and simply headed the ball into the back of an open net to double the lead.

Without further ado the whistle went to signify half time, and we trooped off wondering just where those two blows had come from? It would certainly take a fair pep talk from Trevor Francis if we were going to stand any chance of turning this one round, and though we did better we never really looked like taking the initiative away from a home side with their tail up.

Palace got things underway in the second half, and though it appeared that the side was merely there to make up the numbers, things suddenly changed. A header back into his own area by Mackay found Clinton clear, and in space. He simply repeated the effort of Nielsen in the first half, lobbing the ball over the keeper, and pulling one goal back.

Palace then won a corner which led to a hold up in play, as Palace substituted Danny and Ade for Jovan Kirovski and Julian Gray, but still the corner came to naught. A corner at the other end taken by Clint Easton nearly ended in the back of the net, with Mackay putting his header over the top of the bar. It looked for a moment as if he might have scored, and that really would have been game, set and match.

Palace then made their final substitution, bringing Tommy Black on for Shaun Murphy, and it was obvious that we were once again playing all out attack. Let's hope they don't nip in behind us and score!

A free kick to Palace was rocketed past the post by Julian, and as the game entered the last 10 minutes Norwich did everything in their power to slow the game down. Can't say as we blame them, we would do the same in their circumstances, always assuming the ref let's us get away with it. They took their time over each of their substitutions, and even so we still managed to get a shot or two on target. A good cross in by Julian found Aki Riihilahti whose header just hit the top of the bar, and fell out for a goal kick rather than in for a goal.

Kenton then nearly finished the game off, Dean Austin just managing to get a toe to the ball which would have found Mark Rivers and led to a certain goal. Despite four minutes of added on time Palace could get no nearer to breaking down the defence, and Palace then faced the trip home with nothing to show for their efforts. They had, by far, the best of most of the run of play, but those few minutes at the end of the first half hurt them dearly, and they will have to protect against such things for the remaining games this year.

Colin Pryce

Norwich City: Robert Green, Adam Drury, Clint Easton (Alex Notman 85), Craig Fleming, Darren Kenton, Malky Mackay, Garry Holt, Phillip Mulryne, Steen Nedergaard, Paul McVeigh (Daryl Sutch 90), David Nielsen (Mark Rivers 81).

Substitutes not used: Paul Crichton, Darel Russell.

Crystal Palace: Matt Clarke, Dean Austin, Curtis Fleming, Danny Granville (Julian Gray 57), Hayden Mullins, Shaun Murphy (Tommy Black 69), Aki Riihilahti, Stephen Thomson, Ade Akinbiyi (Jovan Kirovski 57), Dougie Freedman, Clinton Morrison.

Substitutes not used: Cedric Carasso, Simon Rodger.

Attendance: 21,251

Referee: Mr D Pugh (Merseyside)