Palace 0 - 1 Burnley

Saturday September 9 2000 - League

PALACE sunk to second bottom in the league after the defeat to division new boys Burnley, leaving Alan Smith's men still without a league win at home.

It was a game Palace fans would want to forget. The Eagles dominated from the start - Julian Gray, Hayden Mullins and Fan all wasted chances.

Midfielder Tommy Black thought he had given Palace the lead after 20 minutes. Mullins fed the ball through to Black whose left foot shot flew into the corner, only for the goal to be ruled out for off side. Black continued to pose problems down the right.

In the second half, Palace continued to pile on the pressure and squander chance after chance. Then the two Burnley substitutes, Andy Payton and Graham Branch, linked up well for an unlikely winner.

Payton exchanged passes with Branch and crossed in for Branch to slot past on-loan keeper Stuart Taylor in the Palace goal

The Eagles searched for an equaliser in the last 10 minutes. Fan hit the bar with a free-kick and Neil Ruddock had another one just wide. But Burnley held out to send Palace to their third consecutive league defeat.

Post match comments

After the game, Smith said: "Our players gave 100% today. We have a young side and sometimes it takes experienced players to keep battling away but Burnley grabbed all three points.All we can do is keep playing and believe in what we are doing."

Burnley manager Stan Ternent admitted: "We were lucky. I think Palace will be extremely frustrated not to get anything from the match.

"We had a lucky break today but we defended remarkably well and we were glad to take the three points."

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