Palace 0 - 1 West Bromwich Albion

Wed Oct 31 2001 - League

Crystal Palace lost their unbeaten home record as they lost by one goal to nil by West Bromwich Albion.

Uwe Rosler, who is on loan from Southampton, could have put Albion in front early on but saw his header hit the bar and sky the rebound in the first half.

Dougie Freedman then had a one on one with the keeper after beating two defenders, but shot wide.

Matt Clarke saved a shot from Taylor 10 yards out and down the other end, Clinton Morrison forced Russel Hoult into a save of his own.

But Taylor got the only goal of the game in the 63rd minute. There was a lack of communication at the back between Hayden Mullins and substitute Gregg Berhalter and this allowed Taylor in to score from eight yards out.

Palace pressed for an equaliser, but found it hard to break throught the West Brom defence, which was tough to break down throughout the 90 minutes.

Post match comments:

Steve Bruce was obviously disappointed at his side's defeat.

He said: "Their goal came from poor defending and the substitution of Tony Popovic did have some effect, but we were not defending Albion's direct approach.

"Still I am disappointed and felt 0-0 would have been a fair result as we didn't really look like breaking them down."

West Brom manager Gary Megson said: "This was our worst performance in terms of passing, but our best result this season. We are not firing on all cylinders at present.

"Uwe Rosler gave Bob Taylor good support and although they lacked pace they made up for it with speed of mind."

Megson added: "I felt we dealt comfortably with Palace's striking pair Morrison and Freedman."

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