Portsmouth 2 - 4 Palace

Wednesday May 2 2001 - League

Crystal Palace grabbed a vital lifeline in their fight for Division One saftey as they beat Portsmouth 4-2 at Fratton Park.

Palace started well with Clinton Morrison, Forssell and Freedman leading the attack.

After coming close twice, Palace took the lead in the 17th minute when Forssell was unmarked when he converted a cross from the right by Freedman.

Eight minutes later, The Eagles doubled their lead through midfielder Aki Riihilahti, who headed in a Morrison cross.

Portsmouth pulled one back on 44 minutes after a dreadful error by Palace goalkeeper Alex Kolinko. He dropped a cross from Kevin Harper and allowed Lee Mills to bundle in from close range.

From the kick off, Palace went to score their third while Portsmouth were still celebrating. It was Freedman with his first of the night to make it 3-1.

Six minutes after the interval, it was again Freedman who scored. He headed in a perfect Morrison cross from the left.

After that fourth goal, Palace relaxed and Kolinko was given the chance to make up for his error with a couple of outstanding saves.

Portsmouth did score a second with only two minutes remaining, which was too little, too late when Tiler headed in a corner from the left.

Palace leapfrogged Portsmouth with this win and with one game left and have their fate in their own hands.

Post match comments

New caretaker manager Steve Kember said: "I cannot praise the boys enough. I've only been involved with the first team for the last six or seven games, but the spirit is very good.

"I haven't had much time to work with the boys, but I just said to them to go out and play football, pass the ball around and the rest would fall into place.

"I think we have three very good strikers at the club who haven't been firing over the last 14 games, but I knew it would only be a matter of time before they ended their barren run.

"We are now out of the bottom three and the result means our destiny is in our own hands.

"We made things very difficult for Portsmouth but I'm just delighted with the display all 11 of my players showed."

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