Tranmere Rovers 1 - 1 Palace

Saturday April 21 2001 - League

Crystal Palace could only manage a point in their relegation fight and sent Tranmere Rovers down.

Palace went ahead after 24 minutes with a well-taken goal by David Hopkin, set-up by Clinton Morrison.

Minutes later, it was Morrison who had the chance to double the lead, but his shot hit the upright and his second effort went high over the bar.

Six minutes before the break, Morrison had another opportunity to score, but his shot was well saved by Tranmere keeper Joe Murphy.

Tranmere's equaliser came only two minutes after the interval. It was Andy Parkinson, who was just brought on for Micky Mellon, who levelled the score.

The home side tried their best to score the winner and cling on to their First Division status in the closing period, but failed to find the Palace net for the second time.

Post-match comments

A confident Alan Smith said: "It is still in our own hands to survive. If we are tough enough and good enough, which I think we are, we will stay up.

"It was always going to be tough today. Tranmere were not going to go down without a fight.

"It was important not to be beaten today. We were very committed and gave it our best shot."

Caretaker boss Kevin Sheedy of the relegated Tranmere said: "We did not have the cutting edge to finish them off even though we piled on the pressure.

"It is soul-destroying to be relegated. We needed to win today to give ourselves a fighting chance.

"The players have given their all but our frailties have let us down. It was always going to be difficult to turn it round overnight.

"We did not get the results we deserved and we have not got great strength in depth. But we still have some pride to play for in the closing matches."

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