Monthly Archives: February 2008

Is February Over Yet?

Neil Warnock, , ,

Yet another defeat in what has been a miserable month for us, this one coming at home to Wolves. They struck twice in the last fifteen minutes to come away with a 2-0 win yesterday. Among their goalscorers was Kevin Kyle, who seemingly always scores against us.

On top of this Neil Warnock has put Shefki Kuqi on the transfer list after the striker responded to cheers upon his substitution with what was reported as “a crude gesture”. A bad end to a bad month – we only took two points from a possible 15 – roll on March.

Crystal Palace 0-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers [BBC Sport]
Kuqi transfer-listed over gesture [BBC Sport]

At Ashton Gate They Play Until Someone Scores

Live on Sky, , ,

Did you ever play football at school, and continued to play past an end-of-break bell until someone scored? Well something similar happened to Palace tonight.

With a supposed four minutes of time added on played and Palace leading 1-0 referee Richard Beeby allowed play to continue, letting Bristol City take a corner which was headed in by Jamie McCombe.

After a poor first half we were good value for our lead. We played positively in the second half, taking the lead through Lee Hills’ superbly-taken volley (his first goal for the club). While Bristol City had a lot of possession they didn’t threaten very often, although Julian Speroni did have to make a fabulous double-save from Bradley Orr’s controversially-awarded penalty.

Ultimately it is a good result, but the ending left more than a bitter taste in the mouth. When the overdue final whistle went Neil Warnock went onto the pitch in an attempt to keep Palace players away from the referee, where he presumably also made a few points on their behalf.

Bristol City 1 – 1 Crystal Palace [BBC Sport]

Ipswich Pile On The Misery

Neil Warnock, ,

Did I say last week that we’ve taken one point from our last three games? Let’s make that one point from our last four games, following Ipswich’s 1-0 win at Selhurst Park last night.

To make things worse, the winning goal has been described as “Danny Haynes’ fortuitous goal”. Wonderful. When was the last time we had a goal deflect in off one of our own player’s heads? (And no, Andy Johnson’s goal against Liverpool in 2005 was intended, therefore it doesn’t count.)

And as if losing 1-0 to Ipswich didn’t sound familiar enough then there was also the matter of Julian Speroni dodging another red card. This game is done and dusted, but thankfully there is no suspension to deal with as well.

It didn’t sound as if the gaffer was too pleased though. “I thought one or two experienced players let us down. I was disappointed with certain areas tonight and I’ve let the players know.” This season is starting to look like one where we’ll finish in mid-table.

Crystal Palace 0-1 Ipswich Town [BBC Sport]

I Don’t Like Weekends That Start Like This

Neil Warnock, , ,

And by this I mean losing 2-0 at Charlton, Luke Varney with both goals in the second half for the home team.

I’m not particularly keen on the strategy of being a goal down late on, bringing on Shefki Kuqi and taking off Clinton Morrison shortly afterwards. I know who I feel is more of a threat in front of goal. Anyway, I’ll give Warnock a mulligan on that given his recent run. However the current form guide shows us having gained one point from our last nine, something we need to improve if we want to make the play-offs.

Charlton Athletic 2-0 Crystal Palace [BBC Sport]

Saints Steal A Point

Neil Warnock, , ,

Not the way you’d like to follow-up your first defeat in a fair while. Having taken the lead in the final twenty minutes through James Scowcroft we then had Ben Watson hit the woodwork twice, only for Shaun Derry to lose possession and have Southampton work a move which ended with Stern John levelling the scores.

It was the concession of possession which appeared to annoy Neil Warnock the most. “We got punished with an elementary defensive error by Shaun Derry,” he said after the game, adding that Derry, “is one of our most experienced players.”

This is our last Saturday game for three weeks. Next Friday we head to The Valley for the return game with Charlton.

Crystal Palace 1-1 Southampton [BBC Sport]