Palace 0 - 2 Fulham

Saturday March 17 2001 - League

Crystal Palace's losing run continued as they lost 2-0 against league leaders Fulham at Selhurst Park.

Fulham started well and took the lead after 14 minutes when Luis Boa Morte placed the ball past Alex Kolinko after a short pass by Barry Hayles.

Lee Clark and John Collins had chances denied by Kolinko earlier, while Mikael Forssell saw his shot cleared off the line by Fulham defender Andy Melville.

After the break, Fulham continued to be the better side which resulted in their second goal on 69 minutes.

Steve Finnan's pass reached Boa Morte who beat Kolinko for the second time that afternoon.

The Eagles came close to a goal towards the end of the game. Forssell however, shot wide from six yards out and Simon Rodger hit the post from 20 yards.

Post match comments

Division One leaders Fulham pushed Palace deep into the relegation zone with a two-nil victory - but Palace boss Alan Smith believes his side will beat the drop.

The defeat leaves the Eagles fifth from bottom, and it was their six loss in a row leaving them without a league home victory since December 9.

Smith said: "I knew when I came to Palace it would be full of heartache but I'm dedicated and have confidence in our players. It's not an easy job being manager of Crystal Palace but I'm confident we will stay up.

"At times we played really well. If we had taken our chances we might have won, but Fulham are a very good side.

"It took Fulham five years to get where they are and it has taken us six months to get where we are. Realistically we can achieve the same but let's give it a bit of time."

New £1.5m signing David Hopkin performed well on his debut after signing from Bradford a few days before, in his second spell with the club.

Smith added: "Hopkin has made a considerable input to the team on and off the pitch. I give a lot of credit to all the players. We played very well today although we had key players missing."

Fulham's Portuguese striker Luis Boa Morte sealed the win with a goal in each half in front of Selhurst Park's biggest crowd of the season - 21,933 - some of who chanted "You don't know what you're doing" at a second-half substitution.

Smith added: "We have nine games to go and once we get back the likes of Fan Zhiyi, Craig Harrison and Jamie Smith, we will be ok. You have to be play at the absolute max to beat Fulham with a full-strength team but we had four key men missing.

"With a different roll of the dice it could have gone for us and we came away with a lot of credit. As long as I have support from the players, I will see the job through here."

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