U’s punish wasteful Palace

Crystal Palace's wayward first half finishing was punished by Championship new-boys Colchester United on Saturday, who put an end to the Eagles' recent mini-revival.

Shefki Kuqi, Jobi McAnuff and Clinton Morrison were all guilty of missing chances in a promising opening 45-minutes, before the in-form visitors all but killed off the game with two second half strikes in the space of seven minutes.

"We lost because of the way we played in the second half," said Eagles boss Peter Taylor.

"We were very good in the first half and we needed a goal, but we didn't get it. We lacked end product.

"We needed to carry on with that performance but we were not anywhere near close in the second half and they scored with their first attack of the game."

Taylor made two enforced changes to the side which took apart Queens Park Rangers last Saturday, with Matt Lawrence and Clinton Morrison coming in for injured pair Danny Butterfield and Dougie Freedman.

The absence of Freedman was particularly costly. The Eagles had plenty of possession on the edge of the box and the Scot's neat touch and vision would have carved out even more opportunities.

Similar to how the Eagles started against Rangers the previous week, the hosts flew out of the traps and made early inroads on the Colchester goal. Michael Hughes had an early attempt saved by highly-rated U's keeper Dean Gerkin before McAnuff could not quite slot past the keeper.

The Palace winger was threatening again eight minutes later when his drive from Morrison's lay back was blocked by a sliding Colchester defender.

Kuqi fired over after before Colchester had their first effort of the game when captain Karl Duguid dragged his shot wide after Jamie Cureton's cross was only half-cleared.

It was a good spell by the U's and they came inches away from taking the lead in the 18th minute. Cureton found space inside the Palace box and his half-volley was magnificantly tipped over by the Eagles' on-loan keeper Iain Turner.

But unfortunately the save was to be Turner's last contribution of the game after he limped off six minutes later with a groin injury and replaced by Scott Flinders.

The substitute keeper was forced into action straight away, blocking Cureton's stinging drive from the edge of the box.

Palace fought back and were once again dominating possession. Kuqi blazed wide again before his deft header set-up Morrison for the best chance of the half, only to see the striker lift the ball over the bar from eight-yards.

Taylor asked for more of the same in the second half but the chances seemed to dry up.

Morrison had an effort tipped round the post by Gerkin in the 57th minute, before U's manager Geraint Williams introduced Richard Garcia to exploit the gaps appearing in the Eagles midifield.

Cureton found room down the Palace left and swung over a deep cross that Flinders could only touch on to the bar leaving Duguid to tap home into an empty net to give Colchester the lead.

The goal knocked the stuffing out of Palace and the visitors heaped further misery on the Palace seven minutes later when substitute Garcia struck a sweet shot from outside the area which beat the out-stretched arm of Flinders.

After missing a chance 10-minutes earlier, Morrison pulled a goal back for the Eagles with three minutes to go, stooping in to divert Mark Hudson's header into the net to give Palace hope.

But Colchester sealed the points in the 89th minute when Hughes brought down Garcia in the box, leaving Chris Iwelumo to slot home the resulting penalty.

Palace star man: Clinton Morrison. Back in the team and determined to stay there. Worked his socks off up front and on a better day could have notched a hat-trick. May face a battle for his place when Freedman returns.Palace: Turner 6 (Flinders 24 4), Lawrence 6, Hudson 7, Ward 6, Granville 6, McAnuff 7, Watson 6 (Green 73 5), Hughes 7, Soares 7, Morrison 7, Kuqi 7 (Scowcroft 73 6)