May 1 2006

Crystal Palace centenary

Going away to Bramall Lane felt like looking through the window at a party that we had not really been invited to, writes Simon Pophale.

Sheffield United were celebrating a return to the Premiership and their fans were in a bouyant mood.

This was going to be a day which they could salute their heroes, pay tribute to those players who will leave or retire and play some open football, hopefully ending with a victory. All we had to play for is that we don't get any injuries and no suspensions from the upcoming playoffs.

Dowie rested some key players such as Micheal Hughes, Emmerson Boyce and Andy Johnson, with the playoffs in mind. Sheffield United started with former striker Neil Shipperley being made captain for the match.

The first half saw very few chances falling either way. Gabor Kiraly had to make a smart stop from Neil Shipperley on 15 minutes, as Keith Gillespies' deep cross from the right was met with a firm header, but Kiraly was equal to it. Clinton Morrison forced a stop from Paddy Kenny on 31 minutes after good work from Ben Watson and Jobi McAnuff.

12 minutes later, Morrison had the ball in the net but was ajudged to be offside. In truth most the action was confined to the stands with the United fans starting a Mexican wave, however it certainly did not feel like a party atmosphere. Michael Tonge had Uniteds' best chance, his shot dipping over the bar from around 20 yards.

The 2nd half started with both sides attacking and Marco Reich had a shot blocked. United came back into the match slowly as the 2nd half progressed but were unable to trouble Kiraly. On 60 minutes Marco Reich crossed for Clinton Morrison, who nodded the ball inches over.

As the half wore on, the inevitable substitutions began as United wanted to give players a run out, while Dowie wanted to make sure that no injuries were sustained to key players so players like Freedman and Hall were replaced.

Keith Gillespie shot over following a United freekick, for which Tony Popovic received a booking after tussling with former Palace striker Ade Akinbiyi.

However, the hosts really got the celebrations going as from a Gillespie cross on the right, Chris Morgan headed home to ensure that United departed from the Championship with a win, while us hordes of travelling Palace fans were left to just depart.

United paid tribute to Brian Deane as he came on for the last 6 minutes and with Chris Short also retiring at the end of the game, it gave us to thank Deane for that goal 2 years ago which helped take us up.

With possibly 3 more games to play this season, we are going to have to play a whole lot better than this. It was a case of shot-shy Palace, with players seemingly frightened to take a shot on goal.

At least the return of Danny Butterfield was something to cheer as he played with a gusto that seemed to be missing from the others on show. Let’s hope that all changes by next Saturday.