 |
|
James Scowcroft in action against Stoke. |
Palace slumped to their sixth defeat in seven games thanks to a first-half goal from Darel Russell. Palace dominated possession for the remainder of the match but despite no lack of commitment and effort, they could not find a way through the Stoke back-line.
Peter Taylor once again made changes to his Palace side after the defeat at Queens Park Rangers. There were returns to the starting line-up for Gabor Kiraly, James Scowcroft, Michael Hughes and Mark Hudson with Scott Flinders, Shefki Kuqi, Matt Lawrence and Darren Ward the men to miss out.
Palace made a quiet start to the match and it was Stoke who created the first shot on goal in the seventh minute, but Lee Hendrie's free-kick was spectacularly saved by Kiraly.
Five minutes later and big striker Mamady Sidibe was sent clean through down Palace's left flank, but his pass across the box was to no-one. Seconds later at the other end and the fit again Scowcroft hit a speculative long range strike well wide.
With Stoke only a few points ahead of Palace in the League table, both sides were determined not to allow each other any room and the match was starting to become scrappy with passing moves a rarity.
Vincent Pericard hit the Palace side netting after 28 minutes, but soon after Palace came within a whisker of taking the lead. Scowcroft's ball across the box was helped on by Tom Soares to Jobi McAnuff but the winger's shot was sensationally cleared of the line by Stoke defender Danny Higginbotham.
Stoke were looking dangerous on the break though and in the 38th minute they scored as Palace pressed forward. Darel Russell was left in acres of space on the Palace left and after he was played in by Hendrie, he made no mistake by striking a powerful shot past Kiraly from around 10 yards out.
The visitors nearly grabbed a second goal soon after. Sidibe squirmed past Hudson but Kiraly was out quickly to charge down the striker's shot and Leon Cort was on hand to block Hendrie's follow-up effort.
Palace nearly scored themselves just before the half-time break but Morrison's deft header from a McAnuff cross flew narrowly over Steve Simonsen's crossbar and onto the roof of the net.
The Eagles came out for the second-half and went straight at Stoke but they still couldn't create any efforts on goal. Passions were running high and Russell and Soares squared up to each other in the 50th minute following the latter's challenge. This resulted in a slight brawl with the two protaganists and Morrison receiving yellow cards.
It was a much improved performance from Palace in the second period but every ball into the Stoke box went straight to a defender's head or foot.
On the hour mark Taylor replaced Soares with Freedman to try and add some more penetration up front, and it seemed to work as Palace started to dominate the game even more.
Freedman shot straight at Simonsen in the 75th minute and even though it was an easy save, it marked the first save of the match for the tall goalkeeper.
Cross after cross was played into the Stoke area as time ticked away, but Palace never looked likely to create or score from any of them and it was beginning to look like one of those days for the Eagles. Even though they had pressured Stoke for nearly 45 minutes, they failed to find a way through and even when Palace managed to fashion a chance in the final minute, Hughes headed just wide from Cort's knockdown.
Palace: Kiraly; Butterfield, Hudson, Cort, Granville; Hughes (c), Kennedy, Soares (Freedman 60), McAnuff; Scowcroft (Kuqi 71), Morrison.
Subs: Flinders, Lawrence, Fletcher.
Booked: Soares, Morrison, Scowcroft.
Stoke City: Simonsen; Hoefkens, Duberry (c), Higginbotham, Griffin; Chadwick (Brammer 70), Russell, Diao, Hendrie; Sidibe, Pericard.
Subs: Bangoura, Pulis, Wilkinson, Paterson.
Booked: Russell, Simonsen.
Goalscorer: Russell (38).
