Palace Plunder Points at Ninian Park

To rub salt into the wounds of City boss Lennie Lawrence, skipper Tony Vidmar was dismissed in the closing stages for a second bookable offence, in similar needless fashion to Tim Cahill's red card for Millwall against us during mid-week. The Australian international

Lennie Lawrence named an unchanged side from the one that won that earned a goalless stalemate at the Den on Wednesday, with John Robinson surprisingly included in the midfield despite press reports claiming he could miss the rest of the season with a hamstring injury.

An end-to-end first-half produced no goals but plenty of entertainment, as both sides desperately looked for the opening goal, both needing three points with the play-offs still in reach. For City, on-loan Birmingham City 'keeper Nico Vaesen was forced into making saves from Richard Langley and Tony Vidmar, with Robert Earnshaw dragging a close-range effort wide of the bar as the half drew to a close.

Lennie Lawrence and Iain Dowie are two very contrasting managers, and it's quite obvious which of the duo is going to give the more passionate half-time team talk. It was clear that Dowie's words had taken toll immediately after the restart as Palace showed a lot of energy, creating several opportunities. After a number of half-chances, Palace took the lead on 55-minutes due to some impressive work on the left flank from Julian Gray. After making an impressive run through the midfield, Gray burst down the left wing and sent in a cross, which was scrapped away by the frantic Cardiff defence, only for Andy Johnson to pop up and score his 26th goal of the season.

Julian Gray, who spent two months on loan at Ninian Park earlier in the season, was impressive throughout with his darting runs down the left always a threat. What wasn't so impressive, from a Palace perspective, was him doing the ayatollah on several occasions, to the fury of Eagles boss Iain Dowie! The City fans loved it however, and should the London outfit not gain promotion, Gray returning to Cardiff on a permanent basis is something that cannot be ruled out.

Palace grew in confidence after the goal, and despite enjoying some spells of pressure, City lacked the cutting edge to go and find an equaliser. Andrew Campbell, Lee Bullock and Gavin Gordon were all introduced as Lennie Lawrence switched to a 4-3-3 system, but the substitutions had little effect and Palace always looked comfortable.

Vidmar's dismissal with five minutes to go made the task near impossible, and three points were secured for the visitors in the closing moments as Wayne Routledge fired past Martyn Margetson with a cool finish, after being fed through by opening goalscorer Andy Johnson. It was a very well worked goal from the South Londoners, and their slick passing and movement was commendable throughout. Bar a major blip earlier in the season, they would certainly be in frame for promotion, and their win today still gives them a good chance of qualifying for the end of season play-off lottery.

The defeat sees City drop to 11th, six points of the play-off places with five games left. Defeat in Lancashire against Wigan Athletic will kill of the pipedream play-off hopes, although a victory over the Latics would still give City an outside chance! Crystal Palace leap-frog Cardiff into tenth place, a point ahead of Lennie Lawrence's side with a game in hand. Their travelling support of well over 1,000 will head of back to Croydon very happy indeed!

Full Time - Cardiff City 0-2 Crystal Palace
Attendance - 16,656

Cardiff City: Margetson, Vidmar, Gabbidon, Collins, Croft, Langley, Whalley, Robinson, Parry, Lee, Earnshaw.
Substitutes: Bullock, Barker, Gordon, Campbell, Alexander.

Crystal Palace: Vaesen, Butterfield, Hudson, Popovic, Granville, Hughes, Routledge, Riihilahti, Gray, Shipperley, Johnson.
Substitutes: Freedman, Derry, Leigertwood, Black, Berthelin.

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