Not much right vs Reading

November 26 2002

Nationwide Division One

Trevor Francis had to hand it to Reading after they ground out a 1-0 win over the Eagles at Selhurst Park... writes Tom Snelling.

Reading's win came from Nicky Forster's 40th-minute strike and moved them up to fourth in Division One.

Francis felt the Royals had been a tough side to play against and said: "Reading were well-organised and credit to them and the way they protected their lead.

"They looked very comfortable and I am enviable of their settled group of players which is something we seem to have been missing.

"We didn't impose ourselves in the game as we would have liked and there were areas that let us down. Our midfield didn't create enough and our forwards did not show sufficient threat."

Forster's goal was straight out the top draw. Andy Hughes won a decisive header just inside the Palace half and the Reading hitman showed pace as he sailed past Darren Powell, who slipped.

From just inside the box he placed his shot wide of Alex Kolinko into the far corner. Palace perhaps unlucky as it was the visitors' first shot of any nature of the entire match.

However, Palace had hardly had any shots on goal up to that point. I think that a decent link up player between the midfield and attack is needed as Adebola and Johnson are really starting to struggle to score recently.

And when Palace made the occasional breakthrough, Reading could rely on their keeper Marcus Hahnemann. The American goalkeeper made crucial saves from Dele Adebola and Tommy Black just when Palace were beginning to show their striking power.

I think that it was the worse Palace performance of the season and some luck and extra training is needed to get us back to track, further up the table.

Crystal Palace ratings:

Kolinko 7

Butterfield 6

Mullins 7

Symons 8

Powell 7

Granville 6

Gray 5

Thomson 6

Derry 7

Adebola 6

Johnson 6