October 15 2005

Darren Ward

Palace produce a four-star performance as Darren Ward, Clinton Morrison, Ben Watson and Jon Macken all score as Palace beat Coventry 4-1 at the Ricoh Arena.

The immense Ward put the Eagles into a deserving 1-0 lead after a corner was deflected into his path in the 14th minute which was just the crowning glory of a brilliant performance from the big centre back.

The rest of the first half was fairly quiet with neither side dominating however Palace were forgiven for feeling hard done by after Coventry scored an equaliser just before half time from a Matt Heath header after some lacklustre defending from a corner.

However the Eagles fans were soon happy again after a cross was sent over and Morrison found himself in perfect position to head into the net to regain the lead.

The 2nd half started with Coventry getting the better of the game but Palace fans never really felt threatened and after Watson drilled a low shot into the bottom corner to make it 3-1, Palace knew that they were home and dry even with half an hour left.

Then, after the talismanic Andrew Johnson’s substitute appearance was greeted with whoops of joy and choruses of ‘the Andy Johnson song’, the England striker was put through, and crossed for Macken to score his first ever goal for Palace in the 90th minute to make it 4-1 to the Eagles.

Crystal Palace: G Kiraly, D Butterfield, F Hall, D Ward, E Boyce, J McAnuff, B Watson, T Soares, M Reich, D Freedman, C Morrison.

Subs: J Speroni, M Hudson, A Johnson, J Macken, M Hughes.

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