December 28 2008

Crystal Palace

A lacklustre Crystal Palace crashed to a 1-0 defeat at Bristol City.

Palace boss Neil Warnock made three changes to the side that beat Norwich on Boxing Day with Lee Hills, Matt Lawrence and Danny Butterfield coming in.

But City got off to a scinitilating start by scoring after just two minutes gone on the clock. Stern John's corner fell to Nicky Maynard at the edge of the box and he fired past Julian Speroni.

Maynard went agonisingly close to adding another goal but his lob flew just wide, then Louis Carey planted a header off target from Lee Johnson's corner.

Speroni was called into action to keep out a shot from John with his legs and Palace were let off the hook as Ivan Sproule's strike from the edge of the area smacked against the post.

In Palace's only worthy foray forward, Hills saw his effort cannon off the crossbar just before the break.

Bristol had Palace on their knees and launched further attacks with Liam Fontaine clearing the bar from Bradley Orr's cross.

Paul Ifill tested Adriano Basso with an effort from 25 yards but the Eagles were always chasing the game as Michael McIndoe blasted over and Sproule and Marvin Elliott had shots blocked.

Speroni denied Cole Skuse late on, while Fontaine got in the way of a Sean Scannell shot as Palace suffered their first loss in nine matches.

Bristol City: Basso, Orr, Carey, Fontaine, Brian Wilson, Sproule, Johnson (McCombe 90), Elliott, McIndoe, Maynard (Skuse 83), John (Adebola 73).

Not Used: Trundle, Henderson.

Palace: Speroni, Clyne, Fonte, Lawrence, Hills (Kuqi 70), Butterfield, Carle, Derry, Ifill, Oster (Danns 71), Lee (Scannell 79).

Not Used: Ertl, Griffit.

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