November 15 2008

Sean Scannell

SEAN SCANNELL's first half goal was not enough, as Crystal Palace lost 2-1 to Cardiff City.

The surprise change to the lineup for the Eagles was Darryl Flahavan replacing Julian Speroni. The Argentinean withdrew from the squad on Friday afternoon after his wife went into labour, so former Southend United keeper Flahavan took his place.

Cardiff started the game brightly, and Flahavan was called into action as early as the 12th minute when Peter Whittingham's strong shot from the edge of the box tested his handling.

Ben Watson, who scored Palace's second against Coventry last weekend, almost got on the score sheet in the 24th minute when he curled a free kick inches past Bluebird keeper Tom Heaton's goal.

Eddie Johnson missed a chance to put the home side ahead on the half hour mark, blazing over from 10 yards out.

A few minutes later though Palace found themselves a goal down after Jose Fonte was adjudged to have brought down Michael Chopra in the box.

The on-loan striker then stepped up himself and slotted home the resulting penalty.

Palace got back into the game 8 minutes later when Heaton, under pressure from Paul Ifill, made a mistake to let in SEAN SCANNELL for his first goal of the season.

In the second half Cardiff were back in front through a superb Joe Ledley half-volley on 52 minutes.

Further chances fell to substitute Shefki Kuqi and Ifill later on, but the strikers failed to make them count.

In the dying seconds Matt Lawrence was harshly sent off after 'fouling' Johnson in the box. Chopra stepped up again to take the penalty but this time Flahavan made an excellent save to keep the score 2-1.

Palace failed to get back into the game in injury time, so left Wales without a point.

Cardiff: Heaton, McNaughton, Purse, Roger Johnson, Kennedy, Rae (Blake 80), Whittingham (Parry 70), McPhail, Ledley, Eddie Johnson, Chopra.

Not Used: Enckelman, Gyepes, Brown.

Palace: Flahavan, Lawrence, Hill, McCarthy, Fonte, Derry, Ifill, Watson, Oster (Moses 71), SCANNELL, Beattie (Kuqi 62)

Not Used: Carle, Ertl, Wiggins.

Today's results and scorers

2008/09 Reports

Palace 2008/09 team stats

Rate the players' performance

Did you take any photos of the game? Upload them here