September 27 2005

Clinton Morrison

The struggle continues, after edging past Coventry in midweek, Preston was nearly a step too far, by Simon Pophale.

Don’t get me wrong, Preston have had a fantastic away record with 4 wins in 5 games, but we also had a very good home record, which boasted only 1 defeat and no goals conceded in the previous 3 home matches. A draw appeared to be a likely outcome.

Dowie brought back Danny Butterfield while moving Emmerson Boyce to the centre as Fitz Hall was suspended.

Our main problem was not in defence, it was up front as with only Clinton Morrison fully fit, he had to lead the line alone. Which after 6 minutes could have paid dividends had he not skied an opportunity created by Watson over the bar from 8 yards.

Preston soon got wise to our attacks and slowly managed to build some of their own, with no end product for their 200 or so travelling fans to cheer.

With only 1 effort on target as the half time break drew near, 0-0 was probably fair as it has been a tough uncompromising midfield battle, with Aki going off with an injury after undergoing a number of heavy encounters.

Dougie Freedman, fit again at last, came on to rapturous applause but this was soon to be muted as Kiraly made what can only be described as an misjudgement from a corner.

Uncharacteristic, as he has been one of our most consistent players in the last 12 months and to that end, he was voted 2nd best Hungarian Footballer of the year.

Sadly, he was second best as well to Paul McKennas’ inswinging corner and Chris Lucketti headed the ball into what was an almost unguarded net. 1-0.

But in the second half, we came out like men possessed determined to get back on level terms. Carlo Nash, now a walking advert for “Permatan” or some bronzing product was being kept busy as McAnuff, Morrison and Butterfield were all denied by our former model who played in goal. Indeed, the save from Butterfield was outstanding, tipping it over the bar as it was dipping in.

Despite Preston weighing in with some heavy challenges, they were beginning to wilt under the pressure that we had them under.

Challenges became more rash and referee Steve Tanner did not know whether to keep blowing up or play the advantage. In the end, he did whatever he wanted, which was being totally inconsistent. Finally, with around 30 minutes left, Chris Sedgwick pulled Danny Butterfield down about 3 yards outside the penalty area. From being in total control, Preston cracked.

First, in the ensuing melee that surrounded the referee, Danny Dichio raised an arm to Clinton Morrison and was promptly sent off. 4 minutes later, Preston were down to 9 men as Claude Davis made a horror challenge, catching Freedman in the neck with a follow through that almost took his head clean off.

Which brought the last 20 minutes and Carlo’s last stand. We threw everything, Marco Reich and right at the end, Mark Hudson up front to try to force the issue.

Reich nearly did with almost a carbon copy of Tuesdays’ effort, except Carlo made yet another save, to deny the German a 2nd Palace goal in a week.

With 5 minutes of injury time, it looked like even if we were playing until midnight, we were not going to get a goal.

Morrison had done everything and had no luck at all, bad luck and Carlo Nash all added to his frustration. So when he chased down yet another lost cause and won a corner from Graham Alexander, we had one last chance to save the match.

Butterfield swung the corner over and Morrison got his head to it last and it settled high into the roof of the net. Then he was off, right across the length of the Holmesdale and into the crowd in the main stand.

Justice it may have been, but if we are going to be serious about going up, we will have to start winning these kinds of games, starting with Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday.