October 2 2007

Julian Speroni kept the score down

Crystal Palace suffered their first defeat in four matches with a 1-0 reverse at Plymouth.

Manager Peter Taylor rang the changes, bringing in Matt Lawrence at right-back, Jeff Hughes on the left wing, Danny Butterfield slotted in at right midfield and Besian Idrizaj played in attack.

Plymouth started brightly with David Norris testing Julian Speroni from distance on 16 minutes.

Then the Argentinian keeper had to be on his mettle to thwart Luke Chadwick by turning his header from Barry Hayles' cross onto the bar 14 minutes later.

Nine minutes before the interval, Idrizaj had a great chance to level the scores from Butterfield's centre but Argyle keeper Luke McCormick was equal to his header.

While down the other end, Speroni was alert to keep out an effort from Chadwick again.

Clinton Morrison replaced Idrizaj for the second half and it wasn't long before Plymouth broke the deadlock.

Good work from Hayles and Lee Hodges on the left resulted in Peter Halmosi volleying past Speroni when the Eagles defence should have cleared.

Palace failed to trouble McCormick for the rest of the evening as they continued their poor start to the campaign.

Palace: Speroni, Lawrence, Craig, Hudson, Cort, Butterfield (Green 62), Fletcher, Soares (Watson 62), Idrizaj (Morrison 46), Dickov, Hughes.

Not used: Flinders, Fonte.