April 16 2011

Sean Scannell

Crystal Palace's hopes of avoiding relegation were dealt a blow when they lost 2-1 to rivals Scunthorpe.

Scunthorpe's victory pushes them to just three points of Palace, who sit one place out of the drop zone.

Palace went into the game unbeaten at home since October - 18 matches ago - while Scunthorpe were facing a club record 10th straight away loss.

The Iron signalled their intentions inside the first 10 seconds with Ramon Nunez whipping in a dangerous shot that Julian Speroni had to tip over.

James Vaughan forced Iron keeper Joe Murphy into a smart save to his left, while Darren Ambrose blasted off target and Vaughan got in between two defenders before drilling a shot wide.

The visitors shocked the majority of Selhurst Park by taking the lead in the 25th minute as David Mirfin got ahead of Paddy McCarthy to nod home Mark Duffy's corner at the far post.

Murphy saved from Ambrose but Scunthorpe added a second goal on 57 minutes through Ramon Nunez who took advantage of slack defending to volley past Speroni.

Substitute Sean Scannell brough the match to life in the 70th minute with a fine run from the left that ended with a neat finish beyond Murphy for his second goal in as many games.

Vaughan went agonisingly close to converting a Scannell cross from close range but injured his leg in the process and spent the rest of the match hobbling as Dougie Freedman had used up all his subs.

Both sides ende the game with 10 men, Joe Garner was given a second yellow card for a foul on Wilfried Zaha and Scannell did a two-footed lunge on Andy Hughes.

Palace: Speroni, Clyne, McCarthy, Gardner, Moxey, Danns, Agustien (Counago 77), Dikgacoi (Zaha 46),Ambrose (Scannell 60), Iversen, Vaughan.

Not Used: Price, Davis, Garvan, Easter.

Scunthorpe: Murphy, Hughes, Mirfin, Nelson, Williams, Duffy (Grant 75), Togwell, Collins, Nunez, Dagnall (Miller 89),Garner.

Not Used: Lillis, Gordon, Raynes, Josh Wright, Reid.

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