Palace 4 - 1 Sheffield Wednesday

Sat Sep 29 2001 - League

Crystal Palace moved up to fifth place in the league after their fourth win in a row, beating a hapless Sheffield Wednesday 4-1.

Palace had a dream start scoring two goals in the first 15 minutes. Both goals came from Dougie Freedman who has just been selected for the Scotland squad.

The first goal came in the fifth minute, when Tony Popovic headed the ball across the goalmouth for Freedman to score with a downward header. Eight minutes later, Freedman found the net again with a volley from a Simon Rodger corner.

On 26 minutes, Palace made it 3-0 with Freedman again in a leading role. The Scotsman passed to his striking partner Clinton Morrison who struck home from 15 yards.

Not long before the interval, Sheffield Wednesday pulled one back through Tommy Johnson who was set up by substitute Michelle Di Piedi.

Seven minutes into the second half, the Eagles restored their their three-goal advantage again through Morrison. Finnish midfielder Aki Riihilahti intercepted a Wednesday attack, passed the ball to Freedman, who again set up Morrison for Palace's fourth.

After the fourth goal there were chances for both Freedman and Morrison to claim a hat-trick, but they could not find the net.

Wednesday's Danny Maddix was close to scoring, but his header bounced off the post and went wide.

Man of the match: Freedman - Scored two goals and got two assists

Post match comments:

Steve Bruce said: "We had a good start, but then we had a few tired legs towards the end and it got a bit sloppy.

"But I am very pleased. My two front players are a real threat, they've got a good understanding and I wouldn't part with them for anything. Dougie has had a wonderful start with 10 goals and we're only in September.

"Steve Vickers is definitely good to have around as well, he's a real pro and good to have around the young players."

Wednesday boss Peter Shreeves said: "It was a long 90 minutes. We just weren't good enough. Today we under-achieved and under-performed.

"It's a low point but we have to soldier on. All credit to Palace, they played a very tight game."

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