September 29 2001

Dougie Freedman

Crystal Palace won their fourth game on the trott beating Sheffield Wednesday 4-1.

The Eagles won their fourth consecutive win today after beating Sheffield Wednesday by four goals to one. Two early goals by Dougie Freedman gave Palace a perfect start and Clinton Morrison added two more. Tommy Johnson scored for Sheffield Wednesday.

Crystal Palace had a dream start scoring two goals in the first 15 minutes. Both goals came from Dougie Freedman who has just been selected for the Scotland squad.

The first goal came after 5 minutes when Tony Popovic headed the ball across the goalmouth for Freedman to score with a downward header. Eight minutes later Freedman found the net again with a volley from a Simon Rodger corner.

On 26 minutes Eagles made it 3-0 with Freedman again in a leading role. The Scotsman passed to his striking partner Clinton Morrison who struck home from 15 yards.

Not long before the interval Sheffield Wednesday pulled one back through Tommy Johnson who was set up by substitute Michelle Di Piedi.

Seven minutes into the second half The Eagles restored their their three-goal advantage again through Clinton Morrison. Finnish midfielder Aki Riihilahti intercepted a Wednesday attack, passed the ball to Freedman who again set up Morrison for Palace's fourth.

After that fourth goal there were chances for both Freedman and Morrison to claim a hat-trick, but they could not find the net.

Wednesday's Danny Maddix was close to scoring, but his header bounced off the post and went wide.

The Eagles climbed to 5th spot with this win, with 18 points out of 9 games.