Monthly Archives: April 2008

The Bump In The Road

Neil Warnock, , ,

Well, perhaps it was a bit much to expect us to win all our games in April, not that it makes today’s 2-1 defeat at automatic promotion-chasing Hull City any more bearable. That Hull’s winner from Ian Ashbee came in the dying minutes, and that it seemed to be so celebrated by Sky Sports News report Peter Beagrie really didn’t help matters. Earlier had Scott Sinclair scored Palace’s equaliser.

So what do we need to do now? Well the maths are simple and our destiny is entirely in our own hands. If we beat Burnley next Sunday at Selhurst Park we’re in the play-offs. Neil Warnock mused, “The pleasing thing is that it is still in our hands to make the play-offs. No-one can complain if we don’t make the play-offs, because we’ve given it a fantastic shot.”

Which I suspect doesn’t mean that he’ll be anything other than disappointed if we fail to win our last game of the season.

Hull City 2-1 Crystal Palace [BBC Sport]

Two Down, One To Go

Neil Warnock, , , ,

Who would have expected April to go this well? I know I didn’t, not with trips to Stoke, Watfod and Hull on the horizon. We started the month by beating Stoke, and after our solitary home game we have continued by beating Watford 2-0 at Vicarage Road yesterday.

Anyone who wasn’t there had the opportunity to see the action as the game was the featured match on The Championship this morning. Late goals from Paul Ifill and Victor Moses provided our margin of victory, leaving Watford boss Aidy Boothroyd to complain that his team “should have won 4-0.” Rrrrright.

Meanwhile Neil Warnock could only comment on how far the team has come since he took over. “I couldn’t see us scoring a goal never mind getting a win. We were in the mire but we have changed attitudes and gone on this run.” I find the reference to attitudes interesting as it is largely the same players we had prior to his arrival who have been on the pitch during the turnaround.

Watford 0-2 Crystal Palace [BBC Sport]

Palace Continue To Be Upwardly Mobile, Relegate Scunthorpe

Neil Warnock, , ,

At a time in the season where consistency is key Palace (of all teams!) seem to have discovered it. Yesterday we beat Scunthorpe 2-0 at Selhurst Park, with first-half goals from Tom Soares and Clinton Morrison both securing another three points for us as well as relegating the visitors out of the Championship.

Neil Warnock was a happy man after the game, saying “We all know it’s going to go right down to the wire. We badly needed the three points and I would have settled for winning 1-0 and playing poorly. As it turned out, we played very well and could have scored more goals.”

Now come another two difficult games, as in the next two weeks we visit fellow play-off candidates Watford and Hull City.

Crystal Palace 2-0 Scunthorpe [BBC Sport]

Stoke Swept Aside, Palace Return To Play-Off Positions

Live on Sky, , , , ,

Good evening everyone, got your breath back after that frightening second half?

Yikes, that took some sitting through. I was pretty pleased to be 2-0 up at half-time after goals from Tom Soares (ably setup by Scott Sinclair) and Jose Fonte (with a scorcher of a volley), although I might have changed that view after seeing us sit back and invite Stoke to attack us during the second half.

As it turned out all Stoke could muster in reply was their own thunderbolt from Glen Whelan, and while that provided us with an even more uncomfortable last few minutes it wasn’t enough to stop us from leaving the Britannia Stadium with three points.

Neil Warnock summarised the result by saying, “It’s not easy coming to Stoke, you know you are going to be very physically tested throughout. I thought we played some great football at times and we scored a couple of good goals too, which helped.”

Best of all, we’re back in the play-off places. With 4 games to go can we stay there?

Stoke City 1-2 Crystal Palace [BBC Sport]