Ray Bateup
| Crystal Palace (2) 6 | Southend Utd. (0) 1 |
| Muscat 2' | Williams 82' |
| Houghton 38' | |
| Hopkin 49' | |
| Veart 53' | |
| Dyer 72' | |
| Freedman 79' | |
| Attendance : 14,858 | |
| Referee: | Mr.K.A. Leach (Wolverhampton) |
Team : Nash, Edworthy, Muscat, Roberts, Tuttle, Quinn, Andersen, Houghton, Freedman, Dyer, Veart.
Subs: Harris(Dyer), Ndah(Houghton 59'), Hopkin(Tuttle 32').
Booked: Veart
The Eagles have now hit the back of the net 22 times in five games, only conceding 4 goals in the process.
Palace got off to a dream start by netting in the second minute. Ray Houghton played the ball out to Dyer on the right. Dyer's cross was nodded away, but fell nicely in front of Muscat who volleyed back a low shot through a crowded goal mouth from 20 yards, making it three goals in three games for the hard working Aussie.
Southend, like Reading last weekend, were flattered by the final result and it could have been so much worse for them had Palace taken all their chances. However, the seasiders did have their moments.
In the 11th minute ex-Palace forward Paul Williams forced a good save out of stand-in keeper Carlo Nash who dived to his left to keep out the well- struck 20 yard effort.
Within a few minutes Dougie Freedman lofted the ball just over the bar and a few seconds later Williams had another effort drift just wide of the Palace upright.
Twenty four minutes into the game Dougie Freedman again just narrowly missed a deep, Ray Houghton cross, and one minute later Bruce Dyer, standing only feet away from an empty net, had the worse miss of the match when he completely missed Ray Houghton's perfectly executed pass.
Palace had a scare in the 30th minute when Andersen deflected a shot just wide of the post when Carlo Nash appeared to have the effort well covered.
On the half hour a clash of heads in the area left Dave Tuttle face down in the Palace area with a facial injury for which he was eventually replaced by Dave Hopkin, who himself, had only just recovered from a viral infection.
Marc Edworthy kept Palace in the game with a timely clearance in the 37th minute with the ball going straight back to the other end where Freedman drove another effort wide. But 60 seconds later Palace took a well deserved second goal from a well worked move, which involved Edworthy, Dyer, Freedman, and Ray Houghton finished off with a right-footed flick that eluded the Shrimpers keeper Simon Royce.
Three minutes further into the game Dyer netted again but his effort was disallowed for an earlier infringement.
Palace had two more chances to completely kill-off Southend before half time. Carl Veart headed wide from a Houghton free-kick and Edworthy had a fierce drive blocked after he had cut into the Southend area from the right.
A slow start ensued after the interval but Palace got the crucial third goal to wreck any chance of a Southend come-back. Bruce Dyer barged his way to the left by-line but the keeper could only parry his cross-shot to the feet of David Hopkin who tapped home his eighth goal of the season from six yards.
The Eagles kept the pressure on the seasiders and Edworthy had yet another fierce drive headed away before Bruce Dyer put one of his efforts into the side-netting. However, the pressure reaped it's dividend in the 54th minute when Houghton's pass to Dyer was sent low across the face of the net for Carl Veart to tap in a simple goal.
George Ndah replaced the injured Houghton in the 59th minute and he later headed for the dressing room to rapturous applause.
Palace lost their way for a short period following the loss of Houghton. Dougie Freedman had yet another shot blocked but it was the industrious Dyer who claimed the fifth goal when he flicked home a low Hopkin cross.
But it was Dougie Freedman who was the biggest thorn in the side of Southend. His silky on-the-ball skill and his running off the ball had their defence constantly stretched. In the 74th minute Freedman clipped yet another shot just wide of it's mark and three minutes after that had another effort blocked.
However, he got the reward for all his efforts when, 11 minutes from time, he capped-off a virtuoso performance by running on to a lofted through pass and beat the keeper at the near post with a fine low drive.
Palace were now beginning to ease off and Southend scored a consolation goal with a header from the diminutive ex-Palace striker Paul Williams who flicked his header wide of Carlo Nash - this cued the Holmesdale Enders to leap up in the air in mocking celebration.
Young Jason Harris came on for Bruce Dyer who was clearly struggling with injury. However, Harris' introduction had little impact on the final minutes, the damage had already been inflicted.
After my mistake last week, I feel fairly confident in stating that Palace have never hit six goals in successive matches. You would have to go back to the seventies to find a home League match where Palace hit six goals which, if my memory serves me correctly, and it seldom does, was an eight-goal thriller against Swindon Town where Palace ran out as 6-2 winners
- unless, of course, you know different ?
Ray Bateup
