December 8 2001

Trevor Francis

Trevor Francis celebrated his first win in charge of Crystal Palace as the Eagles got back in the promotion race with a 2-1 win over Manchester City at Selhurst Park.

After being on the wrong end of some Manchester City pressure for the first 30 minutes, Palace then took the lead.

Hayden Mullins' free-kick was flicked on by Symons onto Dougie Freedman, who slipped the ball passed former Palace keeper Carlo Nash for his 15th goal of the season.

On the stroke of half-time, Jovan Kirovski scored a second for Palace when he stabbed home Simon Rodger's left-wing cross from close range despite the valiant attempt by Nash in trying to scoop it back.

But Palace were unable to build on their two-goal lead and after 68 minutes, City got back into the game when Shaun Goater scored from a rebound after Alex Kolinko had initially saved Shaun Wright-Phillips' initial shot.

Kolinko, in for the injured Matt Clarke, then made an outstanding save to stop Goater equalising five minutes from the end and Palace picked up some vital three points.