Firstly I’d like to start by sharing my disgust at a certain section of the home ‘support’ who decided to boo the players off the field. This was an embarrassment to the rest of the supporters who’d contributed well to the atmosphere. I’m not sure what those imbeciles where hoping to gain from booing the team from the field but whatever it was it will certainly not have a positive effect on the players. Those people shouldn’t bother turning up to the game if they’re going to come out with foolish statements, if it means even thinner crowds then so be it. Prior to the booing a few idiots in the North Stand decided to throw a second ball on to the pitch as the Palace ‘keeper was about to take his goal kick, as with the booing this doesn’t help the team in anyway and only wastes our own time.
It Also was nice to see a so called ‘big club’ bring a whopping 200 fans at best.
Anthony Stokes came back into the team from injury to replace Stephen Elliott who was injured. The first half started quite brightly from the lads though it was the same problem as we’ve had a few times this season that we have large amounts of possession and can’t seem to do much with it. Palace were difficult to break down and they could have opened the scoring had Darren Ward not pulled off a fantastic reflex save. Jonny Evans and Nyron Nosworthy were again rocks in the centre of defence and won everything in the air against Shefki Kuqi. Nosworthy appears to be flourishing in his new centre half role and to the surprise of many in the stadium he pinged a fantastic 30 yard ball to the feet of Toby Hysen. A rather drab first half was lit up by a fantastic piece of skill from David Connolly who superbly brought the ball down and turned his man in one top class move. Unfortunately the team didn’t manage to create many chances despite looking lively.
The second half was much the same as the first. We had a large amount of possession but we simply couldn’t break Palace down who were very well organised. Both Connolly and Stokes looked lively up front though they didn’t see enough of the ball to make anything count. Neither ‘keeper had to make a save in the second half, though we did have a few more shots than the first they were mostly down the goalkeeper’s throat or blazed over the bar. Despite having over a week off we looked a little tired in the latter stages of the second half compared to Palace who’d played in the FA Cup on Saturday. A drab affair but a much needed point picked up.
Full time: 0-0
MOTM – David Connolly who continually runs his socks off for the team and is playing very well at the moment and long may it continue.