Birmingham City - 0
Crystal Palace - 1 (Johnson 40.)

Palace headed off once more for the Midlands, with many pundits still stating that Birmingham City would win in a canter, despite the fact that Palace were in the "in form" team of the last few matches. Many in the Palace camp were quietly confident that Palace could turn the tables on Steve Bruce, who many have still not forgiven for the circumstances under which he left the Club some three years or so ago.

Birmingham had quietly slipped down the table of recent weeks, and Palace had just made a momentous climb, and a win here would catapult us above our hosts, and tack us on to the next group of Clubs above us; rather than the bottom 5 or so.

Anyway, with ex-Palace players Clinton Morrison and Mikael Forssell out injured it was left to Julian Gray to fly the past player's flag, and even he managed to come somewhat close to scoring.

Palace put back their first choice side for this match, leaving out the 10 changes they had employed for the midweek Charlton Cup match, and the first action of note saw Emmerson Boyce send in a cross that was easily dealt with by Maik Taylor in the Birmingham goal. Jesper Gronkjaer tried a cross that was cleared by Tony Popovic, before a corner to Palace was swung in by Wayne Routledge, Mario Melchiot making the clearance.

A foul by Robbie Savage on Aki Riihilahti led to a free kick, but Palace wasted that chance, and shortly after Emmerson sent in a cross that was caught by the keeper. Stan Lazaridis tried a cross that Gabor Kiraly, once more back in the Palace goal, had little trouble hanging on to, and then a corner to Birmingham was fired in by Savage, Gabor having little trouble hanging on to the ball. Tony was pinged for a foul on Emile Heskey, Savage taking the free kick only to see Gabor once again hang on to the ball, and shortly after he tried a shot that went wide of the upright.

Andrew Johnson was caught offside, but as Wayne swept the ball forward once more it was left to Kenny Cunningham to clear the danger at the back for Birmingham City. Dwight Yorke was then caught offside at the other end before Gronkjaer tried a shot from the right of the area that Gabor did well to parry to safety. A corner to the home side saw Matthew Upson fire the ball towards the back of the net, Gabor doing well once more to hang on to the ball.

Heskey was caught offside, and shortly after so was Yorke. Gronkjaer tried a cross into the centre, but Tony was on hand to clear the danger, and as the ball came back into our area Damien Johnson saw his shot once again cut out by our keeper. Yorke saw his headed attempt cleared by Fitz, who was standing on the line, and surely that would have been the opening goal but for his quick thinking. Upson cleared a corner to Palace, and as Heskey got the ball up the other end Emmerson was again there to calmly clear the ball.

A corner to Birmingham was cleared by Emmerson, but then as Palace broke away Wayne made a good run before slipping the pass across to AJ. He simply ran at the keeper, drew him out, and then placed his shot off the upright and into the back of the net. We were 1-0 up, and half time approached; and just as importantly AJ had scored his eighth goal of the season, in just eleven games. A shot by Gray was well kept out by Gabor, and as Lazaridis sent in yet another cross Danny was on hand to avert the danger.

The half came to an end, and we went to the sheds celebrating the fact that we were ahead in the match, and we merely had the "problem" of holding on for the next 45 minutes to complete the job. Iain would have been asking for more of the same, though he would have been somewhat concerned over our lack of scoring chances, even though we had made about our only chance count.

A corner to Palace was fired in by Wayne, but Heskey cleared the danger, and succumbing to an earlier injury in the match Tony handed over the captain's armband to Michael, and Gonzalo Sorondo came on to replace him. A shot from Wayne went wide of the mark, whilst at the other end Gronkjaer saw his ball cleared by Gonzalo before a shot from Melchiot was cleared Gabor, albeit it with his trailing leg, but we survived, and our lead was maintained.

A shot by Lazaridis went over the top of the bar before Upson was booked for a foul on Michael and Birmingham made a change, bringing on Darren Anderton to replace Lazaridis. Wayne's next shot on goal went over the top of the bar, when he really should have made a pass to better placed Palace players, but youth sometimes gets in the way, I guess.

Yorke saw his cross cut out by Gabor, and as Birmingham piled on the pressure Heskey had a shot blocked by Gonzalo. Gronkjaer had a shot go over the top of the bar before Joonas Kolkka was caught offside, and Gronkjaer got the ball through once more to Heskey, his shot being well dealt with by the keeper. Aki was booked for tugging at the shirt of Savage, as he looked to get clear, and as Gronkjaer tried once again Gabor could only tip his shot around the corner of the upright.

The resulting corner was cleared by Danny, and a second corner was well dealt with by Gonzalo, and Heskey sent yet another shot over the top of the bar. Birmingham made another change, this time taking off Cunningham and bringing on Jamie Clapham, and shortly after they made their final change, this time Johnson being replaced by Stephen Clemence.

Palace, doing their best to hang on to their slender lead, changed their line-up, with Dougie Freedman replacing Joonas, but a corner to Birmingham saw Gabor pluck the chance out of the air. Three minutes was added on to the end of the match, and as Yorke saw his shot blocked by Gonzalo Michael Hughes made his way off, somewhat the worse for wear, and was replaced by Shaun Derry. Melchiot tried a final shot that went well wide to the left of the post, and Palace had recorded their third win in a week, and things were really starting to look up.

Colin Pryce

Birmingham City: Maik Taylor, Mario Melchiot, Kenny Cunningham (Jamie Clapham 82), Matthew Upson, Stan Lazaridis (Darren Anderton 60), Jesper Gronkjaer, Damien Johnson (Stephen Clemence 85), Robbie Savage, Julian Gray, Dwight Yorke, Emile Heskey.

Substitutes not used: Nico Vaesen, Olivier Tebily.

Crystal Palace: Gabor Kiraly, Emmerson Boyce, Danny Granville, Fitz Hall, Tony Popovic (Gonzalo Sorondo 47), Ben Watson, Aki Riihilahti, Michael Hughes (Shaun Derry 90), Joonas Kolkka (Dougie Freedman 88), Wayne Routledge, Andy Johnson.

Substitutes not used: Julian Speroni, Wayne Andrews.

Attendance: 28,916

Referee: Mr D Gallagher