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Here is today's late report.. FULL-TIME RESULT : ****************** Palace : 2 Oxford : 0 (half-time : 2-0 ) Palace Scorer(s) : Dyer 5', Lombardo 12' Birmingham Scorer(s) : - Referee : Mr A D'Urso **RB** Don't forget to download James Mitchell's VIDEO CLIPS of both Palace goals from: http://www.netlink.co.uk/users/tonyd/cp_mpgx.htm Attendance : 14,827 Weather : Fair with some sun Kick-off : 3.00pm BST Palace Team : Digby, Austin, Smith, Linighan, Rodger, Mullins, Warhurst, Curcic, Lombardo, Dyer, Jansen. Palace Subs : Edworthy (on for Curcic 66'), Hreidarsson (on for Warhurst 25'), Padovano (on for Jansen 66') Palace Top Scorers ****************** Player Lge Cup TOTAL Lombardo 1 1 2 Dyer 1 0 1 Curcic 1 0 1 Jansen 1 0 1 Mullins 1 0 1 <>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=< SUNDAY'S 1ST DIVISION RESULT **************************** Bradford City 2 Bolton Wands 2 (half-time : 1-1) LAST-GASP MILLS SAVES BANTAMS ***************************** A last-gasp goal from Lee Mills earned Bradford City their first point of the Nationwide One season in a 2-2 Valley Parade thriller against Bolton. © PA Sporting Life Well I hoped you enjoyed our first HOME WIN of the season yesterday. It might not have been a classic, but at least we are off the mark! Anyway, onto today's update.. TONY DUDLEY has kindly sent in his report from the Oxford match at Selhurst on Saturday. Palace 2-0 Oxford ***************** This was not so much a game of two halves, but of a quarter and three quarters. Nearly 15,000 people turned up for what was expected to be Palace's first home win of the season and although no-one could have been disappointed with the three points, not many left Selhurst Park smiling. It was a nice day for it though; jugglers, sunshine - a longer than usual warm-up for the players. Perhaps Mr Venables is still experimenting with the team, which those who enjoy reading between the lines are convinced of. Fraser Digby in goal in place of the ever-present Kevin Miller was a complete surprise as was no Valerien Ismael - even on the bench. The other surprise was Michele Padovano as sub - perhaps a ploy to see if anyone wants to buy him - perhaps a secret weapon? The most pleasing sight was Simon Rodger - hopefully to provide the midfield strength and quality corners the team had missed. Some were surprised at the inclusion of Bruce Dyer after some inneffective performances, but there he was up front. Early on, a change was detected in him. Apart from the usual 'backing into defenders' fouls which get given against him even when he's innocent, he seemed to be watching other players more closely. In the fourth minute he timed a run perfectly after calling for the ball on the right wing, but duly delivered a poor cross. A minute later all was forgiven. Attilio Lombardo slipped as he knocked the ball forward from just behind the half-way line on the right. But the ball found Curcic in the centre of the Oxford half, as he had intended. Curcic slid the ball forward to Dyer's feet, 20 yards out. He took his chance perfectly, slotting the ball home well out of reach of the keeper. Rising to the occasion Palace applied pressure, gaining a free kick on the left three minutes later. Jansen and Curcic conspired intricately, but Curcic's shot was easily held by the keeper and Oxford must have felt that free-kicks would not be a problem. In fact Oxford looked very tight and sharp, passing the ball neatly and intelligently into space, albeit without any great degree of skill. They had clearly come to make a game of it and the fact that their first real attack didn't occur until the ninth minute was more due to an improved Palace defence than any lack of endeavour. Palace improved their lead in the twelfth minute. A good run on the right by Dyer brought a corner, from which Curcic was fouled trying to dribble into the area. The resulting free kick was taken quickly with no fuss by Lombardo and sailed sweetly into the keeper's top left corner. In part Palace's strength stemmed from defence during this period. Good covering player by Mullins when Linighan went forward for corners prevented any danger from United counter-attacks, and Warhurst's reading of the game was clearly in evidence. Probably Palace's best attacking move of the game came after 16 minutes. Hayden Mullins picked up the ball in the centre of defence and sent Jamie Smith away on the right wing. A good run and wonderful pass to the feet of Lombardo was returned, but the Italian was fouled when collecting the ball from Smith a second time. Oxford's first shot on the Palace goal came on 18 minutes, but presented no real danger. The Palace players must have felt - like most of the crowd - that a five or six goal win was on the cards. That kind of confidence is usually mis-placed at Selhurst Park though - and so it proved to be. Several minutes delay during treatment to Paul Warhurst was followed by an abortive attempt to substitute him. He then continued to play for five minutes as if nothing had occurred. After 25 minutes he was taken off and Hermann Hreidarsson replaced him. Despite a couple more nice moves by Palace the game deteriorated quickly and became a very scrappy affair. Just after the half-hour Jansen hit the ball just wide with only the keeper to beat and after 40 minutes Sasa Curcic found himself through but chose to pass when a shot on goal may have been more effective. Oxford though had two good chances to score during the extra minutes of injury time. A blocked shot after an excellent by-line run and cross from Remy after 45 minutes was a prelude to almost three minutes of Oxford pressure. Most dangerous of all and most worrying, was a free-kick wide on the Palace right corner, which sailed across the Palace goal at head height, but was missed by everone including Digby and the unmarked Gray at the far side of goal. It was certainly a missed chance by Oxford and a serious lapse by the Eagles defence. The players headed for the tunnel with the crowd playing guessing games involving the coaching staff's half-time talk. Mr Venables had told the press afte the Bolton game that the team had to learn to kill off a game. Here then was the ideal opportunity. Could the Eagles do it? I had an A4 page full of notes on the first-half. In the second I collected only eight lines and three of those were just general about the game. Certainly Oxford came out for the second half more positively - as you would expect. And Palace began to play the flashy elaborate football that hadn't produced anything in previous games - particularly when a simple pass would have been much more effective. Despite a nice Palace move after 51 minutes - a long ball from Jamie Smith on the right which Dyer did well to keep in - only to cross to the keeper; there was little to interest anyone not wearing Oxford kit. In fact Oxford were the team who looked like they were pressing for a third goal, knocking the ball around in a relaxed but efficient way. Some improvement in the Eagles attitude appeared after 67 minutes with the arrival of Marc Edworthy in place of Curcic. Jansen's replacement by Padovano at the same time looked to be cosmetic by comparison because Edworthy immediately set about the opposition. A superb cross from the right was pushed away for a corner and Hreidarsson only just missed from the return ing cross. On 73 minutes a fine run by Edworthy - again on the right - was pushed through to Mullins who disguised an excellent pass to Dyer. The striker's shot was blocked though and apart from a wasted free-kick opportunity five minutes later, Palace never bothered Oxford again. In between though Digby was forced to dive at feet to make an essential save after an Oxford free-kick found it's way through an inneffective Palace wall. The game trailed away to nothing with only Oxford making any attempt to score - and this mainly on the break where the Palace midfield allowed them space by not picking up spare men. Overall it was a poor game with flashes of good, but very little else. In a division where it is better to win 6-5 than 1-0, goals clearly do matter. Palace will need to beat teams like Oxford by much higher margins than they did today if they are going to push for promotion. For Oxford's part they built their attacks well, but lacked the ability to shoot on goal. They were without Beauchamp though and clearly missed him - a factor that Palace should not discount when looking at the score. Mr Venables must surely be thinking that 2-0 is not killing a game off. With Palace's reputation for conceding late goals, only a 3-0 lead with a minute to go looks safe. However the positive boost of a win should be of benefit. Simon Rodger did the two things that Palace haven't done in any of their games this season. He put his foot on the ball in midfield and stuck his leg in to tackle when it was needed. The other positive thing is that Palace are getting better in defence as well as the other areas of the field. We must hope we get much better before our competitors do. A game of two similar halves would be better than the quarter of a game we saw today. Tony Dudley. And also: From the Sunday Times ********************* by Phil Craigie Palace stroll as early goals sink sad Oxford ******************************************** YOU COULD tell from the off what sort of game this was going to be. Oxford lined up in a fluid formation and proceeded to run around in a general state of scattered bewilderment, while Palace powered up and down in purposeful 4-3-3. Palace's Paul Warhurst strolled around at centre-back with an arrogance that spoke volumes for Oxford's chances of finding the net. Thus unfolded the tale of a plan that worked and one that failed. Terry Venables' big idea was that his side should "wake up" by performing well in the first half rather than waiting "until you get hit in the face", as in their first three games. So Palace duly scored twice in the first 13 minutes, the highlights of a first half of fluid passing and movement and strong running from Sasa Curcic, the outstanding Matt Jansen and Jamie Smith, before it all petered out in the second half. Oxford manager Malcolm Shotton's "secret" masterplan to atone for the fiasco of his side's midweek capitulation to Luton was undone as early as the fifth minute when Curcic pierced his disorganised defence with what Venables described as a beautiful pass, and there was Bruce Dyer all alone with just the keeper to beat. Now, experienced Palace watchers will know that this is not as good a situation as it sounds. "Half Dyer's game is excellent," said Venables. Nevertheless, under his tutelage, a new calmness seemed evident in Dyer's infamous finishing as he swept the ball home with a flourish from 12 yards. Palace kept coming. The crowd, so often silent during last season's run of home defeats, roared. Palace won a free kick on the edge of the box, and while Oxford were busy assembling a shambolic wall, up sidled Attilio Lombardo to curl the ball into the top corner. Oxford protested that the referee had not blown his whistle, to no avail. Oxford did not come alive until right on half-time when a cross from left had Fraser Digby grabbing handfuls of fresh air. The visitors improved in the second half. They made two changes in the defence, switched to 4-4-2 and looked much more cohesive. Dean Windass is a trier, and he kept on battling for the visitors. There was a 40-yard effort that threatened to dismantle Sainsbury's, a shot on target from the edge of the area, and with Digby frozen to the spot there was almost a carbon-copy of Lombardo's free kick, but Windass's effort curled a fraction wide. Apart from a sudden outbreak of urgency featuring another on-target effort from Dyer which was saved, an apathetic hum descended as the match died a death. When Oxford's lumbering striker Matt Murphy dived, lumberingly, in the area, it suggested a long season of struggle. From Soccernet Web site ----------------------- CRYSTAL PALACE 2-0 OXFORD UNITED ******************************** Crystal Palace cheered up their home fans as Terry Venables' Eagles secured their first win of the season. Last year they suffered the embarrassment of having the worst home record in the country but today's win will ease the strain for new boss Venables. Not that Oxford proved testing opposition. The visitors' manager Malcolm Shotton has suffered the Oxford blues all week as he watched his side go down to Wolves and then in midweek they threw away their cup tie against second division Luton. Despite making six changes to the side that lost that evening Oxford hardly had time to settle as Palace took the lead after only five minutes. Sasa Curcic was given too much space in the centre of midfield and threaded a low pass to Bruce Dyer who cleared the Oxford defence and slotted a low right foot shot wide of Phil Whitehead and into the corner of the net. Palace were looking busy and seven minutes later added a second with Oxford again caught asleep. This time they conceded a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area and with Whitehead pre-occupied with organising his wall, Attilio Lombardo cheekily whipped a curler into the opposite corner. Oxford were having a difficult time allowing Simon Rodger and Hayden Mullen to dictate the midfield for Palace. After the break Oxford made two substitutions in an attempt to change things around. They achieved more possession but lacked penetration as Palace's defence showed better oganisation and resilience than in previous games. But they nearly caught Palace midway through the second-half when Matt Murphy placed a 20- yard free-kick a few inches wide of Frazer Digby's goal, who was playing his first game for Palace. The Eagles, however, looked more likely to score. Substitute Hermann Hreidarsson saw a header drift wide following Rodger's corner on the hour and then minutes later Dyer unleashed a right foot shot which Whitehead saved brillianty for a corner. Despite Oxford's endeavours they were never going to recover from their early setback and Palace came out easy winners leaving Oxford looking back on a week they will want to forget. @ Soccernet And here is some more reaction from yesterday's game against OXFORD, sent in by ALAN JOHNSTON. From Sporting Life Web site.. ----------------------------- VENABLES CALLS FOR KILLER INSTINCT ********************************** Terry Venables watched his Crystal Palace side beat Oxford 2-0 and then warned: "We've got to be more ruthless." Goals from Bruce Dyer and Attilio Lombardo secured Palace's first win of the season at Selhurst Park. But former England boss Venables was not satisfied with his side's showing. He said: "We're quite an attack-minded side and when I took Curcic off in the second half I thought Michele Padovano would be the man who'd win it for us. "I was hoping we'd get that third goal home because you've got to drive it home and finish off the game. "Unfortunately I thought we condensed the space a bit too much in the second half and gave room to the opposition to play." Oxford's chances were few and far between and manager Malcolm Shotton said. "I think the players let themselves down but we're a very open club and I think what we discussed in the dressing room will do no end of good." It was Palace's first win of the season and Venables added: "We had a very good week and we took that into the first half when we did very well. "In the second half we spluttered a bit as fear crept in and we left space for the opposition. "I was hoping we would get a third goal and this would have taken the pressure off. "Instead we dropped off and started to give the ball away. "It was necessary to stiffen up the midfield in the second half as the most important thing was to get the three points. "This win will do our confidence a lot of good." Oxford manager Malcolm Shotten said: "We have worked hard all week but all this was ruined in the first fifteen minutes. "I was particularly unhappy with the referee over the second goal as Lombardo struck the free kick before he blew his whistle. "All other refs would have not allowed it. "I was more happy in the second half but at the moment things are not going our way." © PA Sporting Life And now here are: PIER'S MATCH STATS ****************** Match Statistics : Crystal Palace vs Oxford United (22/8/98) ******************************************************** Palace tactical formation (from 1' to 25'): Digby Smith Linighan Warhurst Austin Mullins Lombardo Rodger Curcic Jansen Dyer (from 25' to 68'): Digby Smith Linighan HREIDARSSON Austin Mullins Lombardo Rodger Curcic Jansen Dyer (from 68' to 90') Digby Smith Linighan Hreidarsson Austin Mullins Lombardo EDWORTHY Rodger Curcic Dyer PADOVANO SHOTS ON TARGET FROM INSIDE THE AREA ************************************ Palace: 1 (Dyer) Oxford United: 1 (Murphy) SHOTS ON TARGET FROM OUTSIDE AREA ********************************* Palace: 4 (Dyer (goal), Curcic, 2 Lombardo (1 goal)) Oxford United: 2 (Windass, Marsh) SHOTS WIDE FROM INSIDE AREA *************************** Palace: 1 (Hreidarsson (header)) Oxford United: 0 SHOTS WIDE FROM OUTSIDE AREA **************************** Palace: 1 (Jansen) Oxford United: 3 (Windass, Marsh, Gray) SHOTS REBOUNDED *************** Palace: 1 (Curcic) Oxford United: 1 (Hill) CROSSES FROM RIGHT ****************** Palace: 10 (3 Dyer, 2 Curcic, Edworthy, 2 Smith, Jansen, Lombardo) Oxford United: 5 CROSSES FROM LEFT ***************** Palace: 3 (2 Austin, Rodger) Oxford United: 6 CORNERS FROM RIGHT ****************** Palace: 6 (5 Rodger, Lombardo) Oxford United: 1 CORNERS FROM LEFT ***************** Palace: 3 (2 Curcic, Edworthy) Oxford United: 0 FOULS AWARDED ************* To Palace: 19 (Linighan, 2 Jansen, 5 Dyer, Smith, 2 Curcic, 2 Hreidarsson, Lombardo, 2 Austin, Mullins, Rodger, Padovano) Against Palace: 14 (5 Dyer, Jansen, Smith, 3 Mullins, 3 Hreidarsson, Linighan) Palace hand-ball: 0 Oxford United hand-ball: 0 ASSISTS ******* Palace: 1 (Curcic) Oxford United: 0 OFF-SIDE DECISIONS ****************** Palace off-side: 8 (2 Dyer, 3 Jansen, 2 Rodger, Lombardo) Oxford United off-side: 4 YELLOW / RED CARDS ****************** Palace - Yellow cards: 0 Oxford United - Yellow cards: 3 (78' Robinson, 79' Marsh, 90' Windass) Palace - Red cards: 0 Oxford United - Red cards: 0 GOALKEEPING *********** Palace Keeper Digby: 3 saves, 10 times he came out Oxford United Keeper Whitehead: 3 saves, 13 times he came out Pier Luigi Giganti. Away from the Palace, and Terry Venables has been hitting back at England boss, Glenn Hoddle.. From Sporting Life Web site.. ----------------------------- VENABLES HITS BACK IN HODDLE ROW ******************************** Terry Venables returned fire on Glenn Hoddle over the England coach's assertions that his predecessor wants his old job back. Venables, responding to criticisms of him published by Hoddle in his controversial World Cup Diary, sought to set the record straight, saying: "He is very wrong to say I still feel that I should be in the England job. "For the record, I don't ache to do it again. So why does he think he knows these things about me?" Venables - who since his time in charge of England has been Australia national coach, Portsmouth chairman and has now returned to club management at Crystal Palace - is one of a clutch of football personalities to come under the Hoddle microscope in his much-publicised book. Hoddle's "irritation" with opinions offered by Venables on how the England team should be run has also provoked a reaction from the Palace boss, writing in today's News of the World. "He says I irritated him with a number of opinions I expressed about England in the build-up to France and during the actual finals. I can understand that. Nobody likes to hear opinions different from his own," Venables conceded. "However, I hoped Glenn would have been able to accept that it was said without malice. "Much more seriously, he claims I didn't make him welcome at our training camp prior to Euro 96. "Basically, he feels I was less than helpful and only acted the way I did because I was unhappy about losing the job which - he reckons - I still feel I should have. On the strength of these observations I think I'm the one who should be irritated, not Glenn." © PA Sporting Life And finally PAUL MATHEWS found this: ..."I spotted this while on holiday in Devon last week in the Thursday edition of the 'Herald', a daily paper in the South West which carries extensive news on Torquay, Exeter and Plymouth Argyle..." WHAT ARE THEY SCARED OF? ************************ Crystal Palace have nearly 40 senior pros on their books, but they were still happy to have the Worthington Cup second leg tie against United (16 pros including two keepers) put back a week because of "international calls". Two of the three players involved - Nikki Rizzo (Australia) and David Amsalem (Israel) didn't even figure in Terry Venables' squad which drew 1-1 at Plainmoor in the first leg last week. Venables has got so many players at Selhurst Park that he's probably still getting their names wrong in training. And on the wages most of them are on, they should be ashamed if their reserves couldn't beat the Gulls, let alone the first team, when they eventually decide to take the field at Selhurst Park next Tuesday night. Paul Mathews *PM* Having read Gary Nelson's excellent book on the problems faced by Torquay I don't think I can argue with the sentiments expressed above! And now from an interesting report from Friday's CROYDON ADVERTISER. NEW ARGENTINIAN CUSHIONS BLOW ***************************** PABLO RODRIGUEZ has gone but Palace have already signed another young Argentinian By David Groves PALACE have signed Argentinian central defender WALTER DELRIO from Boca Juniors in a one-year loan deal. And the Eagles are ready to bring over more talent from Argentina following the collapse of their bid to buy PABLO RODRIGUEZ. Chariman Mark Goldberg told the Advertiser on Thursday that Rodriguea failed his medical. Goldberg said: "Rodriguez had an operation on his knee three years ago. And we have seen weaknesses which we cannot take a risk on." Rodriguez who had been set to join as part of a UKP2m package with Cristian Ledezma, left for Argentina on Thursday. Ledezma will now come on a one-year loan, although Goldberg said Palace would have the option to buy him at the end of that period. Rodriguez and Ledezma both came from Argentinos Juniors and have under-21 caps. Ledezma is understood to have an Italian passport and should be clear to make his debut when selected. Delrio joined Palace on Tuesday and has already been training at Streete Court. Goldberg added: "There is the possibility of one more Argentinian player who should arrive at the weekend on a loan basis. He plays just behind the front two players. He hails also from Boca Juniors and is only 17 years old. He is a wonder kid for the future called Del Bonna," added Goldberg. "The"Rodriguez deal is all over. He has been told this morning that he has to go back home. But we are waiting for work' permits to go through for our new Chinese players, and also for Craig Foster from Australia and, otherwise, we will just concentrate on our recent purchases." Palace could also become trail blazers for the emergance of Asian football talent in this country in another prong of the club's international revolution. So said Goldberg at last Friday's press conference at the club's Godstone training ground. The club had completed the signings of Chinese international defenders Fan Zhiyi and Sun Jihal for undisclosed fees, believed to be around UKP500,000 for each player. However, the transfers are subject to international clearance and work permits being obtained. Zhiyi, 29, and Jihai, 21, are set to become the first Chinese players to participate in professional football in England. International captain Zhiyi joins from Shanghai Shenhua, while his fellow countryman completes the deal from Dailian Wanda. The Eagles have also been boosted by striker Matt Jansen's decision to sign a new SIX-year contract. Palace director of football Steve Coppell told the Advertiser: "We have made work permit applications. Those applications for our two Chinese players and for Australian Craig Foster. But you never know where they are in the mechanism. The Department of Emplovment contact all bodies and have their say." Herman Hreidarsson (Iceland), Nicky Rizzo (Australia) and David Amsalem (Israel) were on international duty this week. Left-back Amsalem's work permit has come through and he will be available to play against Oxford. Palace's first-team coach Terry Fenwick maintained this week that the new regime were on the right tracks for success. At the same time, he praised Palace's fans for their loyal support so far this season. Reflecting on the start of the term, Fenwick said: "We are far more up-to-date. But, yes, we are having teething problems which we expected. However, we have players coming in to strengthen us. And it's still early days. We have had one or two teething problems, but the fans have been terrific." TEAMTALK News ------------- New job for Brolin? ******************* It would seem that former Palace forward Tomas Brolin has found himself a new career as a TV commentator. He has apparently landed a job with the Swedish TV4 network. The rotund Swede, who decided to retire at the age of 28 following sizeable weight problems, is also rumoured to have accepted a post marketing sports shoes. Brolin, of course, was one of the stars of the 1992 European championships but his career suffered a substantial nose dive following his transfer to Leeds United. Tel hits back at Hod ******************** Terry Venables has bitten back after the criticisms made of him by England coach Glenn Hoddle. Hoddle said that Venables wanted his job back as coach of the national team but Venables was angered by this, saying: "He is very wrong to say I still feel I should be in the England job." However the Crystal Palace coach did add: "For the record, I don't ache to do it again." Attendance fears **************** England play Bulgaria on Saturday October 10th in a game to be screened live on Sky from 3pm. This has prompted fears among Nationwide clubs that attendances may suffer for fixtures on the Saturday with fans staying away to watch the national side on television. So strong are the fears that some clubs have already switched their Saturday fixtures to the Friday night, as is the case with Bradford City who will now face Bury on Friday October 9th. That's it for this weekend. Best Regards, Paul Rundle
