17-year-old sensation... but which one?

Crystal Palace 2 v 1 Sheffield Wednesday
Championship - Selhurst Park Stadium. Att: 14, 865
Saturday, 15th December 2007

Another good victory making it 9 games without defeat and moving Palace up to 15th in the table. After a run of 4 victories and 5 draws they are now both 7 points off relegation and 7 points off the play-offs. The team looks more balanced and certainly seems to know what it is doing whereas under Peter Taylor it had become a disorganised rabble.

Having started well in this game Palace found themselve behind after a shot was saved by the 'keeper Speroni only for it to be spilled toward another forward, his effort was also saved but again went loose and this time it was in the goal. Wednesday did not look that dangerous and it was hard to believe that they were ahead but Palace kept plugging away and toward the end of the half Clinton Morrison gets his head to a ball to ease it into the corner. It was his ninth goal of the season.

The second half seemed more open with chances at both ends. Neil Warnock introduced two new players in Dave Martin and 17-year-old Sean Scannell. Scannell had a couple of substitute appearances to his name but scored last Tuesday against Hull City in the FA Youth Cup. His inclusion proved perfect tactics. Morrison got some space in the box and his shot was well saved by the Wednesday 'keeper Grant but the ball squirmed out to Scannell. He had no time to decide but his reaction was perfect and he lobbed it expertly over the desparate hands of the 'keeper. The ground erupted!

Interestingly the programme carried a front page with yet another 17-year-old as it's picture. Since Warnock arrived Palace have given debuts to Sean Scannell, Lee Hills, 15-year-old John Bostock and. supposedly the best of them all, Victor Moses. Moses signed a professional this week and he featured in today's programme. It suggests that this are looking up!