Palace 2 - 0 Bradford City

Tue Oct 16 2001 - League

Crystal Palace extended their fine run of victories to six in a row, beating Bradford by two goals to nil.

Striker Clinton Morrison fired his team to second place in Nationwide Division One with a brace, bringing his tally to 11 goals this season.

Palace started off the better of the two sides and the early possession was rewarded with a goal from Morrison in the 18th minute.

US international Jovan Kirovski fed Jamie Smith on the right and his cross was volleyed home by Morrison.

The home side kept attacking, but could not get the vital second goal leading into the half-time break.

In the second half, Bradford came out a different team and completely dominated proceedings. Luckily for Palace, keeper Matt Clarke was in outstanding form.

He pulled off an outstanding reaction save from David Wetherall's header from a corner and later on, blocked a Gareth Whalley effort on his line.

But the Eagles held firm at the back and dealt with the huge amount of pressure well, desperately hanging on to the slender one goal lead.

Morrison put the game beyond doubt and the majority of the 15,721 crowd breathed a huge sigh of relief with the second goal.

With the Palace players keeping possession to run down the clock in time added on, Aki Riihilahti fed a through ball to the Irishman.

He looked a few yards offside, but with only the keeper to beat, calmly fired home to make sure of the points.

There was even time for two stunning female streakers to run on the pitch, unopposed to bring a cheer to the crowd.

Man of the Match: Matt Clarke - kept Palace in the game with three outstanding saves.

Chant of the Match: Who let the boobs out? Ooh Ooh!

Post match comments:

Steve Bruce praised goalkeeper Matt Clarke, who pulled off a string of class saves in the 2-0 win against Bradford last night.

Clarke was signed from Bradford last month for £1.3m and denied Robbie Blake, Ashley Ward and David Wetherall.

Bruce said: "Matt produced some world-class saves and he kept the momentum going. But he didn't have anything to do for the first 40 minutes."

Bradford boss Jim Jefferies agreed Clarke had a good game. He said: "I thought we outplayed them for most of the game but Matt saved Palace with some superb saves.

"We have been leaking goals lately and we've got to cut out the mistakes. It's a travesty we didn't get anything out of this game."

The Eagles now play league leaders Wolves on Saturday, knowing a win will move them into top spot, but Bruce is keeping his feet on the ground.

He said: "Let's not get carried away. All of a sudden, there's plenty of expectations. That's good but we've still got a way to go.

"The players have turned things around after almost being relegated last season but there is only a quarter of the season gone."

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