Birmingham City 2 - 1 Palace

Saturday October 14 2000 - League

Birmingham grabbed all three points with two late goals from substitutes Mark Burchill and Dele Adebola after Palace looked like holding on for a shock away win.

The Eagles put in a good team performance and made the home side work hard for their victory. In a scrappy first half, Birmingham hit the woodwork twice and even missed a 43rd minute penalty - saved by Palace's Latvian keeper Alex Kolinko.

In the second half Palace took control of the game and were starting to look dangerous. Paul Kitson, on loan from West Ham, had two chances to open his account, but blasted high and wide.

After missing a few chances himself, Clinton Morrison opened the scoring in the 66th minute. A weak defensive header fell for Jamie Pollock, and he fed the ball to Morrison to slot past Ian Bennett in goal.

Birmingham then made an inspired substitution, Burchill and Adebola replaced Geoff Horsfield and Andy Johnson. The equaliser came in the 77th minute as Martin Grainger's low shot beat Kolinko and Burchill was on hand to tap in from six yards.

And with just four minutes to go, Adebola's flashing header in off the underside of the bar making it 2-1was tough on Palace after a battling performance.

Post match comments

Palace boss Alan Smith said: "This game sums up our season. We could and should have won this game.

"If we play like this I cannot see why we should not climb the table. I have been to Spain with the team for the last four days and I've cut some of the branches out of the side.

"I've got rid of six players and I think we will be ok in the future if we play like we did against Birmingham."

From The Terrace Photos

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