Football: Selhurst Park seems haunted by fear of failure
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Your support makes all the difference.Crystal Palace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0
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SELHURST PARK is preparing for a long hard winter. In a season which will see four clubs go down from the Premiership, it is hard to imagine Crystal Palace and Wimbledon facing anything other than a bitter struggle to avoid relegation.
Saturday's contest between landlord and tenant was a dour affair from which neither could draw much solace. Palace are second to bottom and without a win, while Wimbledon's prospects are still clouded by the internal turmoil at the club.
Palace have at least patched up the defensive wounds inflicted by their six-goal battering from Liverpool on the first day (they have conceded only four goals in five games since), but they are short on confidence and inspiration.
In Chris Armstrong, Bruce Dyer and John Salako, Palace have three of the Premiership's fastest attackers, but they rarely threatened and received pitiful service from a midfield which badly needs the return of the injured Ray Wilkins.
Wimbledon are coping well defensively without John Scales, but in attack they rely heavily on the unsettled Dean Holdsworth, whose departure would surely be a fatal blow to their hopes of survival.
Mick Harford, John Fashanu's replacement, performed competently, shooting just wide with a fierce volley and cleverly setting up Marcus Gayle, who miscued badly from 15 yards. Whether Harford can score consistently and unsettle defences in the way that Fashanu did is another matter.
Some things never change, however. There were bookings for Neal Ardley, Alan Reeves and Vinnie Jones, who was particularly upset with Keith Cooper for showing him the yellow card for dissent. 'The referee kept smiling at me and told me to talk to him,' he said. 'When I did talk to him he booked me.' Joe Kinnear, the Wimbledon manager, said the referee had 'a poor game'.
There was little comfort off the field, with just 12,100 people turning up for what was effectively a home match for both teams. Palace in particular may have to look at their admission prices. A family of four buying the cheapest tickets for next week's match at home to Chelsea will have to fork out pounds 70 ( pounds 20 for adults, pounds 15 for children), compared with just pounds 40 for the following week's visit to Arsenal. Judging by Saturday's entertainment value, there may not be many takers for either.
Crystal Palace (4-4-2): Martyn; Pitcher, Shaw, Coleman, Gordon; Matthew (Ndah, 69), Newman, Southgate, Salako; Dyer, Armstrong. Substitutes not used: Bowry, Wilmot (gk).
Wimbledon (4-4-2): Segers; Barton, Fitzgerald, Reeves, Kimble; Gayle, Jones, Elkins, Ardley; Harford, Holdsworth. Substitutes not used: Clarke, Fear, Sullivan (gk).
Referee: K Cooper (Pontypridd).
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