Crystal Palace 1 - 1 Derby County

Palace tossed another two points away, in a game that they should have had won by half time, and in the end were lucky not to lose. The first 30 minutes or so saw Palace carve out some good opportunities, without testing the visitors goalkeeper. Indeed at half time Palace had had 6 attempts on goal without registering a shot on target with the exception of Danny Butterfield's injury time goal. A short corner on the left was parried out by the keeper, straight to Butterfield who smashed the ball home from 15 yards. At this point there was only going to be one winner. Palace had played reasonably well, with Shipperley leading the line well and the rampaging Butterfield having his best game for some time. The prompting of Hughes and Derry in midfield was being matched by the craft of Black and Freedman, while at the back we looked solid enough. The second period however was a different story, prompting boss Steve Kember to label this a Jekyll and Hyde performance. Derby came more and more into the game and Berthelin in the Palace goal was forced into some smart saves. Palace continued to try and pass the ball around, but were increasingly guilty of giving it away. One such time led to the equalising goal. Darren Powell gave the ball away in centre midfield and the ball was moved quickly forward to the left wing. The cross seemed harmless enough, but Powell, in his haste to make amends, appeared to unsight Berthelin, and the ball ricocheted off Berthelin's left leg and into the net. The final 10 minutes saw Palace have FOUR clear cut opportunities to win the match. Freedman had a simple chance when a right wing cross found him unmarked, 6 yards out, but he could only direct his header straight at the goalkeeper. A few minutes later and substitute Ben Watson sent Wayne Routledge through with a precision pass. Routledge in his eagerness, smashed the ball high over the bar with only the keeper to beat. Routledge and Watson swapped roles a minute later. This time it was Watson's turn to blast over the bar. There was still time for Freedman to wrap it up for Palace, but his neat turn and run into the area was thwarted when his fierce left footed shot struck the upright and went out for a goal kick. With this result Palace have now set what must be some kind of record. They have not won a midweek home league match for 20 MONTHS!!!!!!!! This was a game that really should have been won. With 2 more home games to come (Rotherham on Saturday and Ipswich on Tuesday), Palace must be looking for maximum points to close in on the play off places. If maximum points are not gained then, even at this early stage, the play offs will be out of reach, and a season that promised so much, will be another of mid table mediocrity. To add to Palace's woes Darren Powell became the 6th player to receive his marching orders this season, when he received his second yellow card in injury time, following an off the ball incident which was missed by the referee, but spotted by his eagle eyed assistant. Although I was sitting in line with the incident, I too missed it as it was so far away from the ball, however, Steve Kember has admitted that Powell deserved to go.