The Eagle has landed
So as we move in to the darkest nights and coldest days of December, the eagles were flying high at 3rd in the League, but superstitious Manager Paul Rouch did not want to rest on his laurels and trust to the luck of the play offs, so he is determined to push Palace on to claim automatic promotion!!
3rd December 2005
Away to the Foxes and Rouch is unfortunately unavailable and the Assistant manager is left in charge, Leicester scored first through ex-hammer Gavin Williams, Malcolm Christie equalised soon after, but then a mad minute at the end of the half effectively gifted the three points to Leicester, when an undisciplined defence first gave away a penalty which Dion Dublin happily converted and then seconds after the restart, with the home fans still cheering the penalty conversion, the defence went to sleep while Dublin ghosted in and snatched his second in the space of a minute!! Without the managers motivational half time talk. The troops still rallied surprisingly well, and kept Leicester pinned back in their half but were unlucky not to come back until it was too late, when Ben Wright grabbed what turned out to be a consolation goal 2 minutes before the final whistle
Ben Wright picked up the Man of the Match champagne afterwards and when asked about his goal said “While I am pleased to score, it wasn’t enough to get the result we deserved, so it makes the goal meaningless for me” :eek:
Leicester 3 Crystal Palace 2
Palace Scorers : Christie (27) Wright (88)
Leicester Scorers : Williams (16) Dublin (Pen 45, 45)
Attendance : 32483
MOM : Ben Wright (Crystal Palace) 
10th December 2005
Paul Rouch is still unavailable and the Assistant manager again is left in charge. The Owls took charge against a dispirited Palace team and were deserved l;eaders at half time after goals from Lee Coughlan and Graham Clarke. The second half was not much better for the Palace and when Graham put the Owls 3-0 up just past the hour all seemed lost. But a fortuitous couple of penalties in the last 5 minutes duly converted by Ward and Ingrao put a respectable sheen on the score line which wasn’t really deserved. :thdn:
Crystal Palace2 Sheff Wed 3
Palace Scorers : Ward (Pen 85) Ingrao (90)
Sheff Wed Scorers : Clarke (33) Coughlan (36) Graham (62)
Attendance : 22296
MOM : Graham Coughlan (Sheff Wed) 13th December 2005
Paul Rouch returns and is keen to reverse the damage that two back to back defeats are inflicting on the clubs chances of automatic promotion, but he fails to work his magic as Palace tumble to third successive defeat :eek: Paul Shaw is the star of the show and his first half brace secured the win for the railwaymen, Palace were dominant throughout and in fairness were unlucky, Christie raised hopes of a comeback when he pulled one back mid way through the second half but it wasn’t to be
Crewe 2 Crystal Palace 1
Palace Scorers : Christie (72)
Crewe Scorers : Shaw (8,15)
Attendance : 6309
MOM : Paul Shaw (Crewe) 
18th December 2005
At last, Palace break the awful run of defeats and look like the team they were earlier in the season, capable of getting promotion! Malcolm Christie scored both goals either side of the break, but Ben Wright got all the plaudits for his Man of the Match performance. Wright said after the game while collecting the MOM award “I am grateful for the faith the gaffer showed in bringing me to Palace and feel that I have been given a real opportunity here, and all I want to do is repay the faith of the manager and the fans with more performances like that one” :thup:
Crystal Palace 2 Preston 0
Palace Scorers : Christie (29, 63)
Attendance : 20367
MOM : Ben Wright (Crystal Palace) 26th December 2005
After the win against Preston you could see the confidence back in the team and they should have run out easy winners in this fixture, but were the victims of a merciless mugging
Cresswell, against the run of play, hit Palace on the counter attack and
put Leeds ahead in the first half. The fact that Palace did not comeback and grab the result they deserved was down to the heroics of Neil Sullivan between the Leed sticks, his Man of the Match performance earned Leeds the win and left Palace frustrated.
Leeds 1 Crystal Palace 0
Leeds Scorers : Cresswell (36)
Attendance : 26849
MOM : Neil Sullivan (Leeds) 28th December 2005
A patched up team travelled to the Argyle, with sole aim of pulling three points from the game after a miserable month which had seen the Eagles lose more games than they had all season :eek: Recalled Freedman put the Eagles ahead midway through the first half, but despite camping out in Plymouths goal are for the majority of the game were unable to extend their lead until Jon Macken finally doubled the advantage in the final 10 minutes. Michael Hughes had a great game and perhaps sent a message to the manager to play him more often! He said as much after the game when he picked up his Man of the Match award “All I can do is keep my head down, train hard, and show what I cam do when picked, I have no problem with the Gaffer but obviously, as with any other professional football player, I want to be involved as much as possible” When questioned later Rouch did say “I was very impressed with Hughesy today, and obviously I will bear his performances in mind when selecting teams, but that doesn’t guarantee I will pick him, in the same way that no other player is guaranteed a place”
Plymouth 0 Crystal Palace 2
Leeds Scorers : Freedman (28) Macken (81)
Attendance :17422
MOM : Michael Hughes (Crystal Palace) December Awards
After a poor month result wise, it was perhaps unsurprising that no one at Selhurst Park was celebrating receiving any nominations in any of the monthly awards
Monthly Motty Fact
This is the first time that a team managed by Paul Rouch has lost 4 games in one month
League Position
3rd (Amazingly!)
Highest Rated Player
Wright 7.90
Top Scorer Morrisson, 10, Wright 10
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...alace_away.png http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...alace_away.png 
:p
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