Just when we start to get a fairly settled team, our performances start to become erratic and inconsistent. No doubt Keane will say he’s happier with tonights performance than The Sheffield Wednesday one. But for all the attacking, incisive football played that day it was the exact opposite tonight.
Embarking on a relatively kind run of games that many hoped would get us on the coat tails of the league leaders, a win tonight was expected, but it wasn’t essential. Stokes returned from injury and Whitehead remained at right back despite Danny Simpsons signing from Man United.
We started as though we finished at Sheff Wed, purposeful, full of running, passed it well and but for the run of the ball we may have had a really good chance or 2 early on. Palace came to defend though, heart set on a point – and they did it well. They were relatively happy for us to have the ball on the wings but with heavy numbers in the box, any cross just got beaten out. Even from corners, where apart from Evans, your tallest player is probably Danny Collins then you know you’re not going to have much luck in that area.
Even with the ball played along the floor as soon as it gets near the box there were too many numbers and the move broke down. Connolly had a good shot saved as did Yorke but the keeper was never really bothered. In fact Darren Ward had to make the best save of the half when a break by Palace lead to a one-two around our defence and a shot which he tipped over.
Second half and I expected us to crank it up a notch and start to wear them down with the retained possession we enjoyed, but it never happened. Palace played their part in this it has to be said, they defended well but we never looked like scoring. The final ball again was a let down and any shots that came in were 20 yard efforts that the keeper saved easily.
Evans and Nosworthy were assured again in defence, but the midfield lacked anything positive. Stokes, always willing perhaps tried too hard and went looking for the ball too much and Connolly was again his usual busy self and played well despite not creating much or having a really decent chance.
It appeared, as the final whistle drew nearer that we were quite content with a point and only occasional demands from the crowd seemed to urge the players forward. It was a curious last few minutes. What was certain though is we could have played another half and not scored.
If this was a typical performance then I’d be more worried but seeing as were unbeaten in the league this year, have come off the back of an excellent performance and have more winnable (yes, I know that means nothing) games coming up then I put it down to one of those games. A point gained and move on.
Man of the Match – David Connolly
Report by marcopaul
