February 7 2006

FA Cup

Palace crashed out of the cup to an 88th-minute goal by Danny Dichio, failing once again to break the hold Preston have established over them in three matches within ten days, writes Peter Gillman.

All seemed well when Darren Ward stabbed home a corner from short range in the 26th minute.

Six minutes later, in what looked like a carbon copy of the Cardiff incident, AJ went down in the area from a Preston tackle, but referee Armstrong - a long way behind the play - gave a goal kick. AJ looked baffled while Iain Dowie protested to the fourth official.

The ref played a decisive part three minutes later when he harshly awarded a free kick for handball against AJ. From the free kick, Dichio rose above Hudson to nod the ball past Kiraly.

Palace weathered heavy Preston pressure at the start of the second half and then had a flurry of openings, AJ wasting the best when he shot past the far post after going clear to the right of goal.

Extra time was looming when ref Armstrong gave Preston another contested freekick, when a Preston player went down after losing the ball to a Palace defender. McKenna’s free kick was headed home by Dichio, who got ahead of Kiraly as the Palace keeper came out for the cross. With just two minutes to go, Preston ran down the clock without difficulty.

Palace: Kiraly; Borrowdale (sub Andrews 88), Hudson, Ward, Boyce; Reich (sub Soares 90), Riihilahti, Watson, McAnuff; Freedman (sub Macken 72), Johnson.

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