Birmingham City 1 - 0 Palace

Tue Dec 11 2001 - League

Trevor Francis' return to St Andrews ended as a nightmare as Palace lost out by a single goal and saw Tommy Black get sent off after the final whistle.

Black got the red card after a confrontation with Birmingham's goalscorer Tommy Mooney right at the end of the game.

The first half was a dour affair with Stan Lazaridis and Marcelo having weak efforts and Jovan Kirovski trying his luck with two long-range shots.

In the second half, Birmingham could have taken the lead when a Nicky Eaden volley from a Lazaridis cross was saved by stand-in keeper Alex Kolinko.

But Birmingham broke the deadlock in the 64th minute when Christian Edwards, who is on loan from Nottingham Forest, was adjudged to have brought down Lazaridis in the box.

The ref pointed to the spot and second half substitute Mooney scored sending Kolinko the wrong way.

Kolinko then saved a Mooney header from David Burrow's cross as Palace struggled to make any more chances, clearly missing the injured Clinton Morrison.

Then as the final whistle went, Black kicked out at Mooney and after the resulting melee, got his marching orders to round off a miserable evening.

Chant of the Match: "Stand up if you hate Steve Bruce!"

Post match comments:

Trevor Francis felt Tommy Black's sending off was a harsh decision in last night's clash against Birmingham City.

Black got his marching orders after the final whistle following a confrontation with Tommy Mooney.

Francis said: "I went to see the referee (Tony Leake) after the game to ask him what the sending off was for.

"I think there were some Birmingham players who threw punches but the referee did not see it.

"But I think he's going to ask the FA to look at the video of the incident."

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