Palace 0 - 1 Grimsby Town

Tuesday October 24 2000 - League

Was this the worst match that you have ever seen? On a sea of optimism, I arrived at Selhurst welcoming the return of the Doug and in the hope he would repeat the heroics of his first stint here and score a first half hat-trick.

After the capitulation against Portsmouth days before, I hoped this would give us something to cheer. How wrong can you be? Palace started badly and it got only worse. Those that know me see me dutifully with my pen and pad scribbling awaywith notes for these reports. For this one - I did not need to bother.

Palace created nothing and seemed incapable of passing the ball between a red and blue shirt. I mean, this was GRIMSBY and no disrespect to them - these are the teams we should be beating. We have no divine right to beat anyone - we have to earn it. Today, we did not.

The only note I wrote was 33 mins - Criag Harrison step over. Thats about it, and also after having the ignomany of going one nil down. Danny Coyne kicked the ball long from a goal kick, took one bounce, add one misjudgement from a Latvian goalkeeeper and the least talented Allen clan member walks the ball into an empty net.

0 -1 and cue mass abuse hurling after 20 minutes. I don't know what was worse, the fact we were one nil down to a team we usually put to the sword with alarming regularity or the fact that there was no heart from at least eight of the team. Only Kolinko (even though his error cost us the game), Dougie Freedman (worked so hard for no reward) and Clinton Morrison (when he came on that is!) looked like changing this match.

Other than a couple of half chances for the Doug and the embarrasment of watching a technically gifted but shot-shy Forsell beat four players and find himself unable to shoot, left me and 16,000 others in shock. This was just the first half. The second was no better. I can't honestly remember a single decent Palace chance all night.

I think that simply there were a bunch of players on the pitch who were just happy to pick up a pay cheque and not work for it. Last season we would not have seen a performance like this. I hope now the Smith out chants do stop but I hope that he has listened to them and can do something about it, if he doesn't we are finished. SMITHY SORT IT OUT.

Ratings:

Kolinko: (5/10) Other than the obvious mistake at least he tried as he was the defence all by himself. Smith: (1/10) Why does Alan still pick this man time and again? He is just not good enough. Mullins: (2/10) Quite clearly could not give a monkeys. Looked lost in the midfield (Rodger 63). Freedman: (7/10) God has returned, but the saviour worked hard but couldn't deliver. Black: (5/10) Looked a shadow of himself compared with the Portsmouth match. Forssell: (3/10) This player has all the talent but is quite clearly out of his depth. Send him back to Chelsea. We need commitment, not on-loan losers. (C. Morrison 58). Rubins: (5/10) Worked hard but looked out of sorts. Obviously not settled yet. Pollock: (6/10) The engine room of the team looked a little light in midfield. A few clumsy challenges though marred what was a competant performance. Harrison: (5/10) One step-over and a half decent performance from Craig. Better than most. (Gray 75) Staunton: (4/10) With the amount he is on and the experience he provides, a lot more is expected from him. A five figure weekly cheque is hard to justify on this performance. A. Morrison: (5/10) Worked hard but was often found wanting with the distribution. Can't see him getting a permenant move though. Subs Rodger (63) for Mullins Gave more than Mullins. Doesn't say much though. Morrison (58) for Forsell Worked hard and was unlucky with one or two efforts. Being dropped may bring the best out of him. Gray (75) for Harrison No real chance to impress.

Post match comments

Alan Smith said: "I think the players really need to look at themselves.

"I had all 16 of them in the dressing room for one-and-a-half hours and only four of them had anything to say and two of them are on loan, that says it all.

"Someone said that they were giving their all but if that is their best I'd hate to see what their worst is.

"Instead of worrying what car they're driving they need to concentrate on the game. We were beaten by good honest professional players.

"I think our players live in cloud cuckoo land. In training my best two are my coaches Glenn Cockerill and Ray Houghton.

"The bottom line is 'have we got any balls?' and the answer is 'no we haven't'."

Grimsby manager Lennie Lawrence said: "We played bold tonight and we had some good opportunities in the first 25 minutes. The goal obviously helped.

"To be fair to Crystal Palace they came back at us but missed the chances."

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