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December 3 2024 5.37pm

Palace 2 - 2 Gillingham

Sun Sep 29 2002 - League

Another draw for the Eagles as Gillingham held Palace to a 2-2 at Selhurst Park.

Palace improved dramatically after a poor first half performance where they were booed off at half-time and twice came back to level the scores.

Match Stats

Ground: Selhurst Park (Attendance: 15699)

Palace: Michopoulos, Granville, Butterfield, Popovic, Powell, Gray (Black 45), Riihilahti, Mullins, Routledge, Freedman, Adebola (Derry 74).

Subs Not Used: Scheuer, Rubins, Austin

Booked: Butterfield

Goals: Granville 47, Routledge 70

Gillingham: Brown (Bartram 15), Nosworthy, Ashby, Hope, Leon Johnson, Smith, Pennock, Shaw, Perpetuini, Wallace (Tommy Johnson 81), Ipoua.

Subs Not Used: Rose, Spiller, Crofts

Booked: Leon Johnson, Ipoua

Goals: Perpetuini 23, Mullins 70(og)

Referee: P Taylor (Cheshunt)

Dougie Freedman forced keeper Vince Bartram - who came on for the injured Jason Brown in the 14th minute - into action into two saves early on.

The Gills then took the lead against the run of play in the 24th minute. A cross from the right went to Rod Wallace, who took advantage of terrible Palace marking to score after his first effort was saved by on-loan keeper Nik Michopoulos.

In the 35th minute, Danny Butterfield was very unfortunate to see a rasping left-foot drive rattle the crossbar.

Man-of-the match Wayne Routledge had an effort blocked by Gills defender Chris Hope and it rebounded back to the youngster who skied over the bar.

The Eagles came out for the second half with all guns blazing and must have had a Trevor Francis rollicking as it only took two minutes for them to equalise when Danny Granville headed home from close range.

But in the 66th minute, the GIlls went into the lead again. Adrian Pennock's cross was flicked on by Rod Wallace across the face of the goal and Hayden Mullins put the ball past his own keeper after trying to hold off Ipoua.

Three minutes later, Routledge fired home the equaliser from 18 yards with a great effort following a corner.

Tommy Black, who came on at half-time for Julian Gray, should have pulled the ball back for a queue of players waiting in the box, but he selfishly opted to shoot at the near post and the keeper saved.

Post match comments:

Trevor Francis said: "First half we were very poor, second half I can't complain beacuse we should have taken three points. I think the players looked like they would have rather been at home watching the Ryder Cup in the first half.

"After the break they applied themselves and actually looked like they were enjoying it. The first half was unacceptable and something had to be done at half time. It was a real disappointment and changing the system helped certain players.


First half we were very poor, second half I can't complain beacuse we should have taken three points.
Trevor Francis

"The second half was a little better and the players applied themselves with a lot more enthusiasm. They played and looked to be enjoying it and Wayne Routledge is a breath of fresh air with such enthusiasm.

"Wayne epitomises everything I was looking for from my players. He is so enthusiastic and always wants the ball. It rubs off on the rest of the players as he plays with real desire."

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