Crystal Palace 0 - 1 Bradford City

Last updated : 17 September 2003 By Palace Dan
Somehow Palace managed to throw away a game that they dominated from start to finish. As early as the second minute Neil Shipperley should have scored with a header, and this set the tone for the evening. Several chances came and went with Andy Johnson and Tommy Black prominent throughout, but it was with their first real chance of the match that the visitors scored what was to prove to be the winner. A Paul Evans shot was only pushed into the path of Michael Branch by keeper Cedric Berthelin and the former Everton man made no mistake from ten yards. Berthelin was to make amends with a couple of smart saves in the second period, but it was the on loan City goalkeeper Marlon Berresford who was the busier of the two. He made several fine stops, notably from Johnson and Black but saved the best until late on when he denied substitute Ben Watson what appeared to be a certain goal with his first touch. Palace threw everything at the City defence, including the kitchen sink, but found Berresford, Francis and Wetherall in top form. Palace will be left wondering how they managed to lose a game in which they should have been out of sight by half time. This can be illustrated by Steve Kember's refusal to start with Ben Watson, Gary Borrowdale and Wayne Routledge. The impetus was transformed when these three were introduced, but the biggest influence on the team was again missing through injury. When Dougie Freedman regains fitness the team will function properly. At the moment there is no link up play between the midfield and the attacking players. Shipperley looks like he has never played the game before, and is a shaddow of the player we used to know. Derry and Hughes were just awful in the centre of midfield and the attacking crosses were woeful. Several training sessions concentrating on crosses please Steve and Terry.
West Brom are next up at Selhurst on Saturday. If as many players have poor games as they did here then we are in for a pasting. Hopefully the Doog will be fit, along with other absentees Matt Clarke and Darren Powell.