September 10 2005

Clinton Morrison

Goals from Clinton Morrison and Andy Johnson gave Palace a 2-0 win over Hull City, writes Simon Pohale.

It was more a case of “Wet All Over” than “Glad All Over” for anyone who was sitting in the first 8 rows of the Holmesdale Lower.

But no matter, as by the end of the 90 minutes it was us who were singing loudest, with Hull supporters having all but left by the time the final whistle came.

This is the Championship, where the free-flowing football of last season has been replaced by nip and tuck scrapping for every ball and there has been a serious quality bypass as the pace of the Championship, is much more frenetic than the Premiership.

From the first moment, this was going to be a battle, Peter Taylor always creates teams which never give up and what they lack in flair, they make up for in endeavour.

Despite all of their battling, they only had one real effort in the first 45 minutes, when Nick Barmby hit the bar from 20 yards out in the 22nd minute. Gabor, who made one foray out of his goal to thwart Stuart Elliott as well, largely had a quiet half.

Barmby's effort was then followed by a moment of magic, or pure good fortune, by Tom Soares. Now playing in a more central role on the right hand side of the midfield 3, he took a pass from Emmerson Boyce and beat 4 Hull defenders on a 20 yard run to the byline before cutting it back to Morrison to tap in from 2 yards. It was the one bright moment of the half and put us in the lead on 27 minutes.

The 2nd half afforded us few bright moments,in the 52nd minute, Macken went close, shooting just wide with Myhill beaten. But the heavens opened midway through the half which at least had the desired effect of rousing the 18,300 crowd as the fare on offer was often a mish-mash of misplaced passes or a midfield scrap which each side gave as good as they got.

Only Stuart Elliott for Hull looked to be creating as he gave Boyce a real battle on the right, while Nick Barmby had been well minded by Micheal Hughes, whose influence grew as the game wore on – his cross narrowly being cut out by Boaz Myhill on 87 minutes with Johnson only inches away from getting a 2nd goal.

That goal did come in the last minute of the match, Damien Delaney, facing his own goal on the halfway line, had the ball stolen from him by AJ who was left with a 30 yard dash which left him with a one-on-one with the Hull keeper.

There was only ever going to be one outcome and it was more a case of “Singing in the rain” as we celebrated Johnsons’ 5th of the season. AJ had mostly a frustrating afternoon, getting booked for dissent just before half-time and being marked by 2 Hull defenders for most of the match.

Yet he still keeps hitting the target and with 3 wins in the last 3 matches, despite them being mostly unconvincing, it is clear that there is much more to come from Andy Johnson and Crystal Palace, as the season continues.

Man of The Match: Micheal Hughes – Kept Barmby quiet and then went on a personal rampage in the last 15 minutes.

Palace Ratings:

Gabor Kiraly - 7: Despite one Speroni-esque rush of blood to the head, had a largely quiet afternoon

Emmerson Boyce – 7: Tested by Elliott on the right, but came out a winner

Gary Borrowdale - 7: Best game so far from Borrowdale, who sent a constant stream of crosses over and defended well.

Darren Ward – 7: Solid again – did not put a foot wrong.

Fitz Hall – 7: Struggled with the presence of Chris Brown at first, yet remained fairly unruffled.

Tom Soares – 7: Dazzled us all with what he is capable of when he set up Morrison for the first goal. Still gives the ball away cheaply and faded in the 2nd half.

Michael Hughes – 8: Driving force until the final whistle.

Ben Watson – 7: Needs consistency in his passing but he was the main source of creativity in the midfield. Booked.

Jon Macken – 7: Could become an unsung hero has he battled tirelessly and his interplay with Morrison and AJ was more than pleasing. Booked.

AJ – 7: A frustrating match for AJ, but he never stopped working and his goal lifted us all at the end. Booked.

Clinton Morrison – 7: Is going to be a real handful this season and his first goal will give him confidence.

Subs: Aki (for Soares, 65) – 7: Usual energy in midfield.

Butterfield (for Morrison, 75) – 6: Not enough time to really make an impact

Andrews (for Macken, 89) – 6: No time for him to do anything either.