That little ray of sunlight causes cancer

After my prediction of a win in the QPR game and a draw at Port Vale (thanks to a very late Svensson equaliser) I went for the hat-trick and predicted a draw for this night match. And I was so nearly right. The first half was the quieter of the two with both teams performance ebbing and flowing; a spell of attack followed by one of concerted defence. Palace did look the more committed and it was good to see a Rottweiler-like insistence on chasing the ball and tackling the opponent. This almost brought dividends as early as the first minute when Foster saw his shot fly across the goal and go just wide. Despite that the Norwich back line was looking reasonably secure, probably not surprising since they are coached by an ex-Arsenal manager. While Palace's enforced pairing of McKenzie and Svensson were putting in the effort, especially the latter, their keeper wasn't unduly troubled. A few better directed crosses may have brought better results.

Mullins was having a good game, moving from midfield to the role of a third striker and back again. His running and positioning were superb and only the stray passes detracted from his overall performance. Svensson was also working hard without a great deal of success although his 'vigorous' tackling certainly slowed down the Norwich build up from the back. On thing I have noticed about Svensson is that he tends to go for 50-50 balls with a raised foot. This will get him in trouble fairly soon and is an aspect of his game that needs stamping (ahem) out. On the down side was the performance of Andrew Martin. Terrible just doesn't cover it. Passes went astray, he never marked anyone and was in the wrong position a lot of the time. In one incident he went down the right chasing a 50-50 ball with an oncoming defender. He pulled up short which led to someone behind me yelling out "he bottled it". Very true and, especially considering the level of effort of the other players, very disappointing. The other down side was losing Linighan just before half time. After looking very comfortable and secure he went for a header and either received the ball or an elbow in the face. He went off with a broken nose.

The second half saw a similar type of game but Palace were having a more controlling influence now. Early on saw Norwich attempting to play out from the back. They were hassled by McKenzie and Svensson to such an extent that the latter won the ball and put McKenzie through one-on-one with the keeper. Unfortunately he shot too soon and too inaccurately and the keeper was able to pull off a fine save. Later on Carlisle, thankfully replacing Martin, had a shot from the edge of the area take a massive deflection off a Norwich player and loop away from the wrong-footed keeper. That went just wide and the crowd became rather incensed when a goal kick was awarded. That seemed to be one of the main faults of the officials with throws seemingly awarded to the wrong teams. Although the referee was generally consistent and wasn't too card happy he had the crowd going with another decision. Mullins had been booked in the first half for kicking the balls away after being caught offside. In the second period a Norwich player did exactly the same and was let off. No justice at times. The other highlight was the Norwich keeper slicing a couple of clearances into touch. This brought out the ever popular "dodgy keeper" chant.

As the game drew to a close it was following the pattern of a Palace attack followed by a Norwich clearance followed by Palace playing a silly pass to the opposition, getting it back again before giving it back with another silly pass, then finally getting it and launching another attack. By this time Norwich seemed to have decided to settle for a point which, in all honesty, they looked like getting. Until.......a run down the left from Phelan saw him round two players to get to the byline and send over a hanging cross. Cue the appearance of Matt Svensson to beat two other players to the header and direct it into the small gap between the keeper and the near post with only 28 seconds remaining on the clock. Cue an exultant roar from the Holmesdale stand and an elated gathering of Palace players. During the three minutes injury time Norwich had a long range shot that went wide but most of it was spent in the Norwich half with Palace threatening another goal. In the end the one goal was enough which meant I didn't get my prediction trifecta. I wasn't too disappointed though.

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Are you Scotland in disguise?

QUEENS PARK RANGERS (14th November 1999)

Originally scheduled for the Saturday it was decided that this game probably couldn't compete with the Scotland/England Euro 2000 play-off. From a crowd point of view it was a good move although this was a much better game to watch than the dreary and all too predictable effort from Hampden Park. It started with the return of Leon McKenzie after a 6 month layoff. With a page out of the 'you wouldn't write it because no one would believe it' script he scored after 48 seconds. QPR conceded a pointless throw-in which led to a run across the area, a nudge out to the right wing and a classic near-post header from the resulting cross.

After that it was a shifting game with both sides having spells of pressure. Palace looked the slightly more vigorous team in midfield although QPR were the team stringing together a more consistent passing game. Palace almost grabbed a second when Svensson turned in the area and snapped a left foot shot which beat the keeper before hitting the post. The ball then ran along the line before just skipping past the opposite post. After this QPR had a couple of great chances to equalise. The first came from Austin missing an attempted interception which left them open down the right side. A minute later he decided not to go for an interception which allowed another player through. While that caused a bit off unrest in the crowd his later dribbling out of defence cheered up everyone except the QPR fans. During this time Digby was called into serious action only once, a reflex push around the post from a 6 yard header. Linighan also aided at one point, thrusting out a very long leg to take the ball away just as a shot was being lined up. The only downside in the half was Fullarton who pulled up with what looked like a hamstring problem while chasing back. Yet another injury.

In the second half QPR started the stronger, looking to take advantage of Palace's ability to concede just after half-time. Despite the defence allowing two headers on target they were straight at Digby whose positioning throughout the game was superb. Apart from the save in the first half he didn't have a great deal to do, being in the right place at the right time and catching every cross he went for. With QPR starting to push three players up front the game became more open which caused Palace to rely on their favoured long ball over the top. With Morrison present this would have been the perfect counter attacking option. McKenzie did try but after the hour mark it was obvious that lack of match fitness was beginning to take its toll on him. Since Svensson was having an off day the second half was becoming a case of manning the lines. Apart from a couple of occasions where the midfield fell back too far it was a surprisingly resilient defensive effort. However, with only a single goal lead all it would take is a single lapse, a bit of bad luck or a dodgy decision to change things.

On 75 minutes the dodgy decision did occur. Unlike the first minute handball at Birmingham and Fan's sending off at QPR last season this one went Palace's way. A headed ball over the top to McKenzie found him and Svensson yards offside. The defence stopped and looked at the linesman. His flag stayed resolutely down while McKenzie kept running. As the keeper came out he squared it to Svensson who tapped it very slowly towards the open goal. Fortunately it failed to hit any divots and eventually crawled over the line. This was the cue for the entire QPR team and management to surround the lineman and referee. This lead to two yellow cards being shown as well as the QPR supporters throwing programmes on to the pitch. It's almost a shame they didn't throw coins as we could have done with the money. After the game restarted QPR seemed to be more interested in kicking lumps out of players rather than the ball. This eventually saw Kiwomya ordered off. He was followed ten minutes later by Ready who decided to push Svensson over in the penalty box. Amazingly the referee saw it. Mullins decided to take it and, off a short run, sent the keeper the wrong way and the Palace fans into a chant of "are you Scotland in disguise".

The good points were a sterling defensive effort with the midfield looking very solid. Linighan had a very good game, cutting out a lot of balls and even passing to other Palace players more than half the time! Fan's return at the back added more speed and a bit more bite. Foster also returned, replacing Fullarton when he limped off. Unfortunately he was also crocked later in the game and had to be replaced himself. McKenzie was full of running but needs more matches to regain full fitness and to get a proper understanding with his striking partner. Overall it was a performance on par with those against Portsmouth and the first hour against Tranmere. If the same level can be maintained then Palace shouldn't stay in their current league position.

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