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November 21 2024 3.51pm

Palace 1 - 0 Millwall

Sat Dec 7 2002 - League

Danny Granville's second-half strike proved enough for Crystal Palace as they claimed all three points from their South London rivals Millwall at Selhurst with 1-0 win.

Granville, sent off in midweek, struck on 73 minutes with a 20-yard free-kick before Tommy Black had a penalty superbly saved ten minutes later.

Match Stats

Ground: Selhurst Park (Attendance: 19301)

Palace: Kolinko, Powell, Popovic, Symons, Granville, Butterfield, Mullins, Riihilahti, Gray (Routledge, 66 (Derry, 89)), Black, Adebola

Subs not used: Williams, Michopoulos, Borrowdale

Bookings: Mullins, Powell

Goal: Granville 73

Millwall: Warner, Lawrence (Johnson, 78), Nethercott, Phillips, Ryan, Ifill, Wise, Livermore, Reid, Claridge, May (Harris, 56)

Subs not used: Gueret, Roberts, Bull

Bookings: Harris, Ifill, Livermore, May

Referee: P Dowd (Stoke-on-Trent)

A typical First Division half saw few chances. Black had an early shot saved by Tony Warner and midway through the half, Granville forced Warner into action again with a fierce 25-yard free-kick.

Millwall's first shot on target arrived on 36 minutes when Livermore shot straight at Alex Kolinko.

The second half was more free flowing, with Palace the likely to score. Aki Riihilahti, Dele Adebola and Black all had useful chances before Granville eventually made the obvious breakthrough.

Robbie Ryan fouled substitute Wayne Routledge on the edge of the box, and from the resulting free-kick, Granville made no mistake with a powerful left-foot shot which rattled the underside of the crossbar before entering the net.

Milwall's display was disappointing and Paul Ifill brought a brilliant save from Kolinko, one of the first of the afternoon from Kolinko.

Palace should have killed off the game seven minutes from time when Black's penalty, awarded after Phillips floored Adebola, was brilliantly saved by Warner who dived successfully to his right.

A much better performance from Palace resulted in the scum not being allowed to use the ball at all and meant that Palace controled. The back three also looked very solid with Powell (JC), Popovic and Symons all playing their part.

All Palace need now is a strong striker to return to the team, and we may contend for the play-off as we are only currently six places off the pace.

Post match comments:

Trevor Francis said: "We knew it was going to be a difficult game. Millwall played against a side that was very different from the side they played 12 months ago.

"The improvement was there for everybody to see, showing we have changed things and we are not a soft touch any more."


Millwall played against a side that was very different from the side they played 12 months ago
Trevor Francis

"We protected our keeper very well and the three at the back played well. I thought the goal by Danny Granville was very special, it was a good response from his sending-off in midweek.

"Tommy Black has been good in training all week, we practised penalties yesterday and he didn't miss one. But on this ocasssion the keeper must take credit. Tommy is our third penalty taker behind Freedman and Johnson."

"I'm hoping to get our key players out of the treatment room to assemble an attack to get into the top six."

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