Johnson fires Palace to victory

October 23 2004

AJ added two to his tally

An Andy Johnson brace, and a FITZ HALL header earned Palace a crucial three points against West Brom.

This was it, this was war. Or so said Iain Dowie as much, in the papers on the Friday before the game. "My players will be ready for a battle" were his words.

What a battle it was. From minute one, we were up for this. Overcast conditions shrouded South London but there was going to be nothing overcast on the faces of the mighty faithful who fought through the wind and rain to roar on a victory.

We also had plenty to shout about as well. From a corner in the 4th minute, Popovic played a ball back to Wayne Routledge, whose first time cross found the head of FITZ HALL and the ball bounced into the bottom corner. 1-0, 5 minutes on the clock and we were on our way.

As so often happens in football, no-one is more vulnerable than when they have just scored. West Brom launched an attack of their own and Darren Moore headed into the ground and the ball flew over Kiralys' goal from 5 yards. A case of bounce-over-ability, rather than bouncebackabilty!

But bouncing back is something that we needed to do, after the defeat at Bolton the week before and that task was made all the more easier as Hughes slipped a perfect ball to Joonas Kolkka and his cross would have found AJ in the box had he not been pushed in the back by Martin Albrechtsen. Matt Messias said penalty and pointed to the spot. AJ picked himself up and planted the ball squarely in the top corner of Russel Hoults goal. 2-0 and 12 minutes gone.

The Holmesdale was rocking, we were playing some of the best football that we have seen this or for many seasons. The conditions were not the best but even in the rain, we reigned, especially in the midfield who were winning absolutely everything that came their way, Hughes was colassal and Watsons' clever passes were finding only Red and Blue shirts. Aki was scooping up all loose balls and Kolkka and Routledge were running riot. The 1st 25 minutes belonged solely to us.

Gary Megson, the beleagured manager of West Brom, clearly saw that his side were not at the races and made an immediate change, taking off the sluggish Albrechtsen and replacing him with former Manchester United man Johnathan Greening. The change seemed to reap rewards for West Brom, who became a little more inspired and forced 2 corners, fortunately which yielded nothing.

But it was to be our half, Hughes was the attacking threat in midfield and all forward moves were going through him, indeed 2 balls he played to AJ nearly yielded more positive results, one being a free kick and the other AJ brought a smart save from Hoult. We were on the front foot.

Not even a yellow card could bring down the joy of leading going into half time. Danny Granville wanted to get in on the goalscring act and from a corner, he nearly did just that sending a speculative effort on the stroke of half time goalwards, only to see Hoult punch it over. My only concern going into half time is whether that the break may disrupt our rhythm. I needent have been unduly worried though, as despite having one or two efforts in the 1st half, West Brom offered nothing in the way of making Kiraly work during the first half.

However the 2nd half that almost changed as virtually from the kick off, Robert Earnshaw struck the bar with Kiraly beaten. It was not going to be his afternoon. But it was certainly going to be one that AJ was not going to forget as his second goal, which came moments later, was nothing short of brilliant and epitomised our top scorer to the last.

Picking up a ball from Kolkka on the halfway line, he ran fully 25 yards before unleashing a pinpoint shot which beat the dive of Hoult and went in of the post. 3-0 and all over. Although you could argue that it shouldn't have been. Going 3-0 down seemed to wake up the Baggies and despite having a lot of the play in the next 15 minutes, could not convert any of the possesion into worthwhile goalscoring opportunities.

Earnshaw had another effort go over from an almost central position, Gera shot striaght at Kiraly and Scimeca was making a real nuisanace of himself sending in crosses and making the defence work for the first time under some pressure. But it all came to nothing and the longer the game went on, you could see the brief belief that West Brom had slowly ebb away.

Emmerson Boyce, who had an accomplished game at Right Back once again, played a 30 yard pass to AJ which sadly came to nothing. However this was a seminal moment in the match, as I don't think that anyone in August who saw Boyce play would recognise the player now. He has raised his own standards so high, he looks like he has been playing in the Premiership all his career.

We were also playing our part. The noise created by all four sides of the ground was phenomenal. It was great to hear the "boucebackability" song heard around the Holmesdale as well. We have started a new fashion!

Back to the game and the match tailed off with Dowie bringing on Lakis, Freedman and Sarondo and it was 1st 2 who nearly put us four up. Lakis made headway down the right on 86 minutes and his cross was just too far in front for AJ who was steaming in trying to claim his hat-trick, while Freedman found himself in space, capitisling on a pass from Aki but took one touch too many as Moore slid in to put the ball away to safety.

There was still enough time for the former Arsenal man Nwankwo Kanu (Nwankwo by name.......) to set up Earnshaw who again blasted over when it would have been easier to score.

With Palace now cruising, the final whistle brought the loudest cheer of the season. Our biggest margin of victory in the Premier League since April 1993 - when we had defeated Middlesborough at the old Ayresome Park 4-1. Nearly 23,000 witnessed the win,which in itself is remarkable considering this would be one of the lesser teams in the division.

Other than the 3 goals, the all round play was great to watch. Match Of The Day even was complimentary, the commentator even saying "sparking entertainment here today at Selhurst Park". Mark Lawrenson gushed over the performance and Gary Lineker brought Alan "Ivory Tower" Hansen to book after his comments of us "being the worst team in Premiership history". Hansen as ever, talks total twaddle and refused to acknowledge his previous comments by giving the only admission that we "have a hard November!".

On this performance, November will be tough but there is much cause for optimism. AJ has nearly eclipsed Chris Armstrongs' league goals total in the Premier League in 1995. It is only October! We are playing with a commitment and energy that I have seen such a long time ago at Selhurst Park from Messrs Southgate, Thomas, Wright, Bright and Gray. We are most certainly in the groove and on the right track if we are going to survive this season.

Lots of people criticised Dowie's moves in the transfer market but he has done a lot better than Megson if this game is anything to go by. Kiraly kept a clean sheet, HALL scored the 1st while Kolkka made the 2nd. West Brom meanwhile saw Kanu and Gera make little contributions, Albrechtsen get yellow carded and concede a penalty, before being substituted while Gaardsoe was given the run around by AJ all afternoon and to cap it all,Robert Earnshaw, a £3 Million signing, miss 3 chances which really should have been meat and drink to the Welsh forward. I don't think the signings that I mentioned even cost that much.

Dowie has brought players who have heart and will battle till the last. Skillwise we are improving all the time and in AJ, we have a forward so sharp, Gillette might want to call their next razor after him. I'm sure he is looking forward to next Sunday to stick one (and possibly more) up former club Birmingham and Steve Bruce. I wouldn't back against him

Line-ups:

Crystal Palace: Kiraly, Boyce, HALL, Popovic, Granville, Riihilahti, Routledge, Watson, Hughes, Kolkka, Johnson.

Subs: Speroni, Freedman, Torghelle, Sorondo, Lakis.

West Brom: Hoult, Moore, Gaardsoe, Albrechtsen, Haas, Johnson, Scimeca, Gera, Robinson, Kanu, Earnshaw.

Subs: Greening, Horsfield, Hulse, Kuszczak, Inamoto.

Referee: M. Messias (S. Yorkshire)

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