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March 28 2024 10.50am

Palace 1 - 0 Walsall

Sat May 1 2004 - League

Andy Johnson fired Palace into the play-off places with a controversial late penalty as the Eagles beat Walsall 1-0 at Selhurst Park.

Match Stats

Ground: Selhurst Park (Attendance: 21518)

Palace: Vaesen, Butterfield (Black, 83), Leigertwood, Popovic, Granville, Routledge, Riihilahti (Watson, 79), Derry (Freedman, 65), Gray, Johnson, Shipperley

Subs not used: Berthelin, Borrowdale

Goals: Johnson 88

Walsall: Walker, Bazeley (Fryatt, 89), Ritchie, Roper, Aranalde, Wright, Osborn, Andrews, Wrack (Kris Taylor, 73), Bradbury (Leitao, 72), Emblen

Subs not used: Merson, Kerr

Bookings: Andrews, Osborn, Ritchie, Roper, Wright

Referee: D Pugh (Wirral)

Palace found it tough to break down Walsall who had 10 men behind the ball for much of the game and when they did get through found keeper James Walker in fine form.

But second half substitute Tommy Black had only been on the field a matter of minutes before he was adjudged to have been fouled in the box by Paul Ritchie in the 85th minute.

Walker saved Johnson's penalty but the Palace front-man slotted home the rebound for his 28th league goal of the season.

The Saddlers needed a win to guarantee their First Division survival and they had Walker to thank for keeping them in this game.

His first save was to turn away Neil Shipperley's header from Danny Butterfield's free-kick and from the resulting corner, he tipped Shipperley's header round the post.

He then denied Johnson with his legs when the division's top scorer was clean through on goal. Johnson then headed wide from Tony Popovic's flick-on from Aki Riihilahti's cross.

But Walsall were inches away from taking an undeserved lead just before the break when Mark Wright's glorious cross from the right just missed Darren Wrack who was diving in to score from close range.

In the second half, Walker made a great save from Riihilahti, whose header from Danny Granville's cross was destined for the back of the net.

Former Palace striker Lee Bradbury had the visitors' first shot on target in the 66th minute, which was easily saved by Nico Vaesen.

Palace boss Iain Dowie threw on Dougie Freedman, Black and Ben Watson as Palace bombarded the Walsall defence but couldn't find a way through.

That was until Black won the penalty and Johnson did the rest ensuring Palace moved to fifth, knowing they need a point at Coventry next Sunday to guarantee a spot in the play-offs.

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