August 19 2006

Jobi McAnuff

It was heart-break for Palace as they went down 2-1 to Birmingham, losing to an injury-time goal after seeming to have done enough to secure a hard-fought point, writes Peter Gillman.

Palace had chances to win the match after a string of saves from Gabor kept the scores level. The result takes Birmingham to the top of the table and pushes Palace down to third place, with Cardiff second.

Palace went ahead in the 11th minute after Hudson won the ball in midfield and slotted a pass to McAnuff. Jobi cut inside Kelly and lashed a deflected shot past Maik Taylor.

Palace pressed only for Birmingham to equalise on 22 minutes through Arsenal loanee Bendtner, who picked up a pass from Nafti and was unchallenged as he fired past Gabor from the penalty spot.

In the second half, Palace continued to look dangerous but Gabor saved Palace with a stunning double save on 50 minutes. Four-million pound signing McSheffrey could have won the match for Birmingham on 70 minutes but delayed his shot, allowing Gabor time to clear.

On 87 minutes Mark Kennedy missed a glorious chance to take both points, drifting a shot just past the far post from the edge of the area.

Birmingham missed chances at the other end before substitute Larsson picked up a cross to shoot past Gabor on 91 minutes. Palace won a corner in the dying seconds but had to head home pointless.

PALACE: Kiraly, Butterfield (Lawrence 66), Cort, Hudson, Granville, McAnuff, Fletcher, Watson (Freedman 64), Kennedy, Soares, Scowcroft (Morrison 82).

BIRMINGHAM: Taylor, Kelly, N'Gotty, Jaidi, Sadler, Johnson (Forssell 79), Dunn, Nafti (Larsson 65), McSheffrey, Campbell, Bendtner (Danns 73).