Draw at Barnsley: Unbeaten Streak Now Eight Games

Neil Warnock, , , ,

Another game without defeat, this time at Barnsley yesterday. The 0-0 result is our second clean sheet under Warnock, and our eighth successive game without defeat. Our best chances fell to Clinton Morrison, Shaun Derry and Ben Watson, but none of these resulted in a breakthrough and we had to settle for a point.

We’re now 15th in the table with 25 points. If you’re a pessimist (like yours truly) you’ll want to know that our points tally is five more than third-from-bottom Colchester United.

Barnsley 0-0 Crystal Palace [BBC Sport]

Competitive Palace Draw With Albion

Neil Warnock, , ,

What a difference a few weeks make, eh? Even within Warnock’s brief reign we’ve gone from depressing defeats to Stoke and Watford to an unbeaten streak that now includes a well-deserved draw against West Brom. Featured game on The Championship this morning too, can’t be bad!

(Actually, pretend I didn’t say that. I don’t think ITV are doing that good a job, I’m just pleased to see us on the TV at all.)

Clinton Morrison equalised for us after Mark Hudson’s early own goal. We’re now on a run of six games without defeat.

Crystal Palace 1-1 West Bromwich Albion [BBC Sport]

A First Home Win For Warnock

Neil Warnock, ,

For the first time this season we’re able to celebrate back-to-back wins, as we secured a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Preston last night.

Clinton Morrison scored our equaliser before Clint Hill scored his first goal for the club in first-half injury time to secure the win. Pleasingly, Neil Warnock isn’t getting carried away, saying, “We’re under no illusions, it’s going to be hard work until January, we’ve got some tough games coming up.”

He’s not kidding. The visitors to Selhurst Park on Saturday are second-placed West Bromwich Albion.

Crystal Palace 2-1 Preston North End [BBC Sport]

Warnock Enters The Win Column

Neil Warnock,

Nice! At the seventh time of asking Neil Warnock has notched his first win at manager of Crystal Palace. We earned it through a 2-1 victory at ten-man Colchester United yesterday.

After breaching the 100 goal mark last time out Clinton Morrison was back with a brace, scoring both the first goal and the second-half winner at Layer Road.

And the best bit? We’re no longer in the relegation zone. Let’s hope that’s the last we have to hear of the R word this season.

Colchester United 1-2 Crystal Palace [BBC Sport]

Clinton’s Ton – What’s Your Favourite?

Clinton Morrison, Player Milestones,

Something I thought might be worth considering in light of Clinton’s 100th goal for the club yesterday. What’s your favourite goal that Clinton scored for the club?

Like many others I was there for Clinton’s debut goal against Sheffield Wednesday in May 1998. Distance has meant that I’ve missed plenty since, or I’ve only seen them on TV (like his winner against Sunderland in the League Cup in 2000).

Anyway, there are literally a hundred to choose from. Which one is your favourite?

Clinton’s 100th Earns a Point

Clinton Morrison, Neil Warnock, Player Milestones, , , , ,

Almost three full months after number 99 Clinton Morrison finally reached the 100 goal mark in a Palace shirt, heading in Mark Kennedy’s cross in the dying minutes to secure a 1-1 draw with QPR.

It had almost happened earlier in the game, but at that time Clinton’s effort past Lee Camp was ruled out for offside. At the other end QPR boss Luigi De Canio credited Julian Speroni’s performance for keeping Palace in the game.

After the game Neil Warnock said it was the first time that the players have been on the receiving end of his temper, and the result seemed to make it worthwhile. Our current situation depends upon your point of view. We’re unbeaten in our last three games and just one win away from a jump of several places in the table, but conversely we’re yet to win under Warnock and remain second-bottom, ahead of only Norwich.

For one day though I’m going to try and forget about that. The day, and the milestone, belong to Clinton Morrison.

Crystal Palace 1-1 QPR [BBC Sport]
Clint’s 100 goal countdown [cpfc.org]

Drawing Out The Away Days

Ben Watson, ,

Another away draw last night, this one a 1-1 affair with Cardiff City at Ninian Park. Darren Purse opened the scoring for Cardiff, before Ben Watson equalised for Palace from the penalty spot just before half-time.

Vaguely related to the action on the pitch, it seems that on-loan Cardiff goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel managed to wind up the visiting Palace support. Lovely stuff.

Next up for Palace is a home game with QPR. The six-pointers seem to be coming thick and fast at the moment. We need to start winning a few of them.

Cardiff City 1-1 Crystal Palace [BBC Sport]
Palace 1-1 Cardiff Player ratings [cpfc.org]

A Clean Sheet! A Clean Sheet!

Neil Warnock, ,

I know, it seems like a strange thing to get excited about, but a full three months into the season we’ve finally kept a clean sheet. Pity that a) it took three months, and b) we had to play Scunthorpe to get it.

Anyway, at least it is a step in the right direction. The counter-argument to that is that there’s just about a count in place regarding the number of games Warnock has been in charge without a win (now up to four games). Thankfully he sounds positive, stating “I will be looking to see what we can do in the loan market to strengthen us up front”.

At least for one day, the defenders get a break.

Scunthorpe 0-0 Crystal Palace [BBC Sport]

Watford Visits Make for Unhappy Viewing

Live on Sky, , , ,

It was another night where it looked like we would have a difficult job to get a positive result, and so it proved as league leaders Watford ran out 2-0 winners. It was depressingly familiar to the play-off defeat of eighteen months ago (Marlon King scores, check, we don’t, check, all to easy for Watford, check). Not an enjoyable night’s viewing.

The match will remain notable though for the debut of youngster John Bostock, who is still just 15 years old, making him the youngest player to ever appear in a Palace shirt. He was brought on with eighteen minutes still to go with Watford already two ahead, so it seems a bit gimmicky to me (especially with the Sky cameras on hand). Hopefully though it is the start of a long and successful career at Selhurst Park for Bostock.

(At least we’re not talking about how we’re still in the bottom three. D’oh!)

Crystal Palace 0-2 Watford [BBC Sport]

Stoke Crash Warnock’s Welcome Party

Neil Warnock, ,

Hmm, probably not the way that Neil Warnock envisaged his first home game as Palace manager. Despite Dougie Freedman’s equaliser Palace ended up being on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline.

Among the visitors and main talking points tonight were the Miami Dolphins’ cheerleaders, or for anyone who is a fan of Fighting Talk might know them as: “Let’s hear it for Gary O’Reilly!”

On a more serious front it sounds as if Warnock is still evaluating what he has to work with. “I can’t fault the players for effort – perhaps one or two are trying too hard,” he said, before continuing, “At 1-1, I thought we would go on and win it, but instead they picked us off.”

As an additional thought, what has happened to teams like Stoke and Portsmouth, who used to be certainties for 4 or 6 points every season, to suddenly develop winning runs against us? Shouldn’t this be balancing up somewhere? Coventry City and Nottingham Forest, I hope you’re taking note of this.

The fixtures don’t get any easier either. The next visitors to Selhurst Park are league leaders Watford.

Crystal Palace 1-3 Stoke City [BBC Sport]