Crystal Palace 2 Plymouth Argyle 1

Last updated : 22 December 2007 By Footymad Previewer
You either love him or loathe him but Neil Warnock has started to prove that he is the right man for the Crystal Palace job at Selhurst Park.

He watched his side stretch their unbeaten run to ten matches with a no-nonsense 2-1 win against Plymouth Argyle.

Clint Hill and Jamie Scowcroft scored first-half goals, but Jermaine Easter pulled one back early in the second half for the Pilgrims.

Although Paul Sturrock's outfit stepped up a gear and pinned Palace back for long spells in the second half, the Eagles defence was resolute and they just about deserved their win.

The first 45 minutes saw Palace in full control with a mixed assortment of direct football as well as smart, swift interchanges of passing.

Plymouth's first-half display was disappointing to say the least with Julian Speroni in the Palace goal left with just a couple of routine saves to make.

The Pilgrims were not doing themselves any favours as they conceded too many free-kicks and, indeed, both Palace's goals stemmed from set-pieces.

On seven minutes, Danny Butterfield's free-kick was met by Scowcroft who neatly headed on to Hill who, despite being under pressure, did well with his header which looped over Plymouth's defence with Romain Larrieu off his line and the ball eased into the right corner of the goal.

Larrieu had to make three important saves to deny Ben Watson, Scowcroft and Shaun Derry before Palace doubled their lead two minutes before the break.

Ben Watson's free-kick was missed by the Plymouth defence and Scowcroft from six yards out simply nudged the ball past Larrieu.

After the break, Plymouth pulled one back as, for the first time, the Eagles' defence was caught out.

Nadjim Abdou, with space on the right, crossed perfectly for Easter to place his header past Speroni from close range.

Plymouth, inspired by that early second-half goal, were enjoying more possession while Palace looked edgy and were giving the ball away far too cheaply.

Argyle were certainly giving Palace a hard time and it needed some desperate defending from the home side to maintain a slender lead.

Derry, on loan from Leeds, was holding Palace together with another top performance and he has proved instrumental in Palace's unbeaten run.

Although Plymouth came close to getting a point, they found Palace in determined mood as they eventually claimed the three points and, as a result, continued to edge up the table.