February 2 2005

Aki Riihilahti

Dermot Gallagher should not be allowed to referee us again after this performance, writes Simon Pophale.

How he could send Sorondo off for nothing more than an innocuous challenge with Horsfield in still baffling to me in the cold light of day and even to some West Brom fans that I went back on the train with.

It put us on the back foot and any chance of a win evaporated with this decision. It was not 11 vs 11, it was now 12 against 10. Possibly that you could argue that Johnathan Greenings challenge with Fitz Hall later on could and should have been a penalty were by the by. The damage had been done and all I hope that Dermot looks at it again, and recinds the card so Sarondo wont be banned for a later match.

That said though, West Brom did not offer too much in the first half. Workmanlike they were and in Zoltan Gera, they have a player that can unlock defences and make that difference between wins and defeats.

They have another one too in Jason Koumas, who is criminally underused and overlooked. Junichi Inamoto is no slouch either, but he is on loan to Cardiff due to most likely a financial disagreement between Chairman and former Manager Gary Megson.

But Gera did not manage to break the deadlock, despite on 28 minutes skipping into the area and sending a shot against the top of Kiralys' bar. West Brom had the majority of possession in the 1st half, as was to be expected. Numerous corners and freekicks were taken by Johnathan Greening and we must be thankful that every single one of them missed a White and Blue shirt.

After losing Sarondo, Freedman was withdrawn for DARREN POWELL and despite our goal resembling the Alamo and Dermot Gallaghers stop/start refeering benefit ting the home side, to go in 0-0 at Half Time was a real result, despite the 2 man advantage that West Brom seemed to have. Due to our disadvantage we created nothing and every 50/50 ball ended up going to the home sides advantage.

The 2nd Half would have been more of the same,. except WBA do have another player managing to make another indelible contribution to the match. DARREN Purse, who decided to let a long boot from Kiraly go back to his keeper did not see AJ lurking nearby and with one duck of his head and one nod from AJs, we were 1-0 up.

Cue scenes of general pandamonium and burger munching celebrations. "Going Down, Going Down" became the cry, when the man with the bald head passed Purse by. Yet, all this did was sting West Brom into attack, our only other notable chance in the next 30 minutes, was a dangerous downward header from Fitz Hall which was well saved by Russell Hoult.

But it was down to last man standing at the back after Kevin Campbell had headed over in the first half and Geoff Horsfield making a number of runs in the first half, one notable stopped brilliant by a DARREN POWELL tackle, we now had the Bucktoothed wonder Robert Earnshaw to deal with.

Zoltan Gera was still pulling the strings in midfield but WBA were getting more and more dangerous, Paul Robinson sent a drive which Kiraly pulled of a great stop, before Kevin Campbell scuffed a shot across the box which Kiraly thought was going wide, ended up hitting the post and he recived a boot from Earnshaw in the face when he gathered at the second attempt.

From another Johnathan Greening cross, Emmerson Boyce hit the ball squarely millimetres passed the post, from where I was sitting it looked in, but the ball nestled nicely behind the goal and not inside it. It was not looking thier day.

But with the defending getting ever more desperate - DARREN POWELL sliced a clearing header tow ards Kiraly who made a terrific one handed save but could only push the ball to Kevin Campbell and he could not miss from one yard out. 82 minutes, 1-1 and to be honest, that was a fair result.

In fact that is when I had to leave the game, due to getting the last train back from Snow Hill. I missed but heard the shouts at the Hawthorns station when in the 1st minute of injury time, Rob Earnshaw rounded Kiraly and poked him from the acutest of angles and 3 minutes later, when I was sure that the game must be over a muted (from distance) cheer led me to phoning back to London where I was told that it was now 2-2 - Aki coming on to save the day with a last minute goal line scramble.

I havent seen it, but it got us a point where we could have got all 3, but nearly ended up with none. All in all a typical Palace performance, heart in the mouth stuff right to the end, which is a little ironic, as this has been the season all over so far and I think will for us until the season is over.

Man of the Match - Micheal Hughes who never stopped running and tackling.