9 men? Not good enough. Website reaction

Last updated : 05 October 2003 By Michael Morris
They nearly blew it though. City were down to 10 men and 2 - 1 down when sub Andy Campbell broke free, he had Earnie and Thorne in space in the box and it was 3 v 1 as City attacked, Campbell had to pass a simple ball square along the ground for City to earn a point, either of City's strikers would have scored. I still can't quite describe my feelings when Campbell crossed so deep that the ball went out for a Palace throw. It was nearly the icing on the cake, that came when Campbell only seconds later lashed out and was sent off for violent conduct.

Prior to that Boland was sent off for serious foul play. A decision I thought was harsh at the time and still think a stern word from the ref and a yellow would suffice but Boland did go in overly hard for a challenge and seeing that this ref had sent off three in one game already this season it was no surprise to see him walk.

Palace played out their best performance of the season and City were not up to it.

Earnie and Thorne were isolated as the City midfield were oudone by Palace. Graham Kavanagh can hold his head high, he was superb again and scored a fantastic consolation but his midfield colleagues let him down. Bonner worked hard and did little wrong apart from being played in the wrong position. He is not a left winger. Boland's sending off was reckless and Langley was out of sorts as he failed to create an attacking threat.

Lennie may have to get some new blood into the squad. Kav was booked for the 5th time this season and will miss Coventry along with Boland and Campbell who will both miss more games. With only 16 fit players available today we cannot afford to lose three players especially as our squad is stretched at the moment.

To end my ramblings I'd like to mention Kav's goal. 20 odd yards out, outside of his right boot, swerving into the top left hand corner. Just superb. Kav played a one two with Earnie and lashed home a goal of the highest quality.

Still I'd rather lose in Division 1 than Divisions 2 or 3.