There had been some debate about what sort of reception Peter Taylor would receive from the Tiger Nation on his return to the KC Stadium. Some felt bitter about the manner of his departure in the summer and felt he would be roundly booed, others remembered only the good things, the successive promotions that elevated us to this level and the satisfying victory over the White Shite during a season of consolidation, feeling he would be warmly applauded.

So how did it transpire? Was the KC a cauldron of hate or a cistern of warmth and gratitude? Well, err, neither really, more a carafe of indifference. Sure, individuals will have expressed their feelings, but the mass vocalisation of feeling eagerly anticipated by hacks who love to generalise an entire crowd just didn’t happen. Not for Peter Taylor anyway. 

City made a few of changes to the side that capitulated to QPR last week, but mostly these were forced by injuries. With Livermore and Collins hurt the Tigers fielded; Myhill; Thelwell, Mills, Turner, Dawson; Yeates, Ashbee, Marney, Fagan; Parkin, Bridges. 

The inclusion of Alton Thelwell was the biggest cause for surprise, perhaps Peter Taylor was the most surprised of all having rarely been able to play the man he signed from Spurs. Danny Mills smudged into the Collins shaped hole at the centre of defence. On the left of midfield Yeates got the nod over Ryan France who sat on the bench alongside Duke, Welsh, Forster and Coles, back in contention after being out injured for what seems an eternity.

When fairground rides arrive on Walton Street car park they usually bring with them chilly and misty weather, but on this late September day the Sun shone on the pikeys erecting death tempting machinery and the KC thermometer read 21 degrees. The visitors got the game underway to chuckles from the home fans, they employed what was the ‘Delaney kick off’, the ball sent high and long towards the right corner flag. This routine rarely bore fruit for City and it bore no fruit for Palace today.  

Indeed, there was a much about Peter Taylor’s Crystal Palace that resembled Peter Taylor’s Hull City, and when City had a free kick about ten yards into the away sides half it came as no surprise to see them put every man in the box to defend the set piece. Seeing this one City fan bellowed ‘get a man forward Taylor’ nostalgically. Dawson lofted the ball towards Fagan in the box, he headed it goalward only to see his effort palmed away, not by the Palace keeper (still wearing those MC Hammer jogging bottoms that he won on Ebay) but by a defender. ‘Penalty!’ howled the home crowd, to the disinterest of the referee.

City were the more enterprising of the two sides in a rather slow paced start to the game, Yeates turned his man in the box but saw his shot charged down, soon after Thelwell drifted a cross towards John Parkin but he was beaten in the air predictably, annoyingly but nonetheless impressively by former hero of ours Leon Cort, forming a pattern that would be repeated many times this afternoon. 

It was Palace’s turn to have a spell of possession now, and during it a throw in was taken, hurled by a red and blue shirt at a team mate, who caught the ball in play, then trotted over the touchline to take another throw, angering Mills and Ashbee who enquired just how the ref or his assistants had missed that. City defended a corner in jitterish fashion and Myhill punched out, setting Thelwell on a dash upfield, he gave the ball to Bridges who with the right ball could put Parkin clean through, instead he thrashed the ball square, behind the Beast, and harmless out of play. Yeates tried another long range drive but it was deflected wide for a corner, and we know not to get excited about corners these days as we put them straight into the keeper’s hands or fail to beat the first man. Dawson chose the former option.  

The best chance of the half came when Bridges curled a shot goalward but saw it plucked from the air by Kiraly, who’s pants billowed wildly as he dived to his left. Chances were few and far between in the first 45, Cort had effectively nullified the threat of the Beast, winning every ball aimed at Parkin’s head, and at the other end Danny Mills was having little trouble quelling and danger posed by the lumbering Shefki Kuqi, who signed for £2.5M looks a couple of million bones overpriced.  

The half’s best entertainment came when Fagan and Morrison squared up to each other on the right touchline, the Palace forward took a lame swipe at Fagan before the Beast intervened and Morrison should have been carded but the ref chose to warn both players. Danny Mills put this right, no doubt telling Morrison he was a meff until the hotheaded forward took the bait and saw yellow. The half ended, 0-0, and despite having some talented players, the Londoners are nowt really and don’t look like promotion candidates, they hadn’t created a single chance of note and  certainly didn’t look a team 20 places higher than City, who were the better side.  

Realising that sending Morrison back onto the field would result in a sending off sooner rather than later, Taylor replaced him with Stuart Green, giving us some pantomime moments as those who rightfully despise the treacherous fishlipped hoon let him know just that, while those who admire style over substance, who forgive errant passes if they are made with white boots, who don’t mind laziness if a player has a Tony and Guy haircut applauded him.  

Scowcroft hit the top of the bar with a cross that failed to fill Myhill with fear before City had a few corners that were customarily wasted. Dawson, one of City’s better performers this season, was having an uncharacteristically wretched afternoon, he tried to drill the ball across the face of goal but hoofed it into the South Stand.  

City defended limply and paid dearly for it, as Palace scored with their only decent shot on goal. Until now, and indeed after, Myhill had not a shot to save, but on 57 minutes the Tigers stood still as the ball dropped for, who else? Leon Cort, who thumped a low diagonal drive beyond Myhill’s grasp and into the net. 1-0 Palace.  

Now Leon Cort was much beloved by the Tiger Nation, a towering presence both at the back and up front on set pieces for City last year and during our 2004/05 promotion season. Odd then that he decided to sully his stature with City’s support by running to celebrate, not with the feeble Palace contingent behind the goal, but in front of the East Stand. Ok Leon, you’re amazed that you’ve scored with your foot and against your old side, but celebrating this way was deeply unwise. Why’d you do that Leon? 

City’s response was feeble initially, Bridges hit a long range effort wide before Parkin chested the ball down admirably before attempting a ludicrous shot on goal from a few yards over the halfway line. The ball trundled along the ground and out of play some 10 yards wide of goal and Kiraly covered his mouth with his gloves to stifle a laugh. 

We weren’t really threatening to equalise but come on, you’re playing a Peter Taylor side, they’ll try to hang on to a slim lead rather than extend it and they’re prone to conceding a late goal, and so it proved. After the Beast trod on Leon Cort to the glee of those who were full of admiration for the defender until he chose to rub our noses in it, Thelwell was replaced by France and Forster came on for the disappointing Bridges.  

Craig Fagan received a yellow card for a mistimed challenge and understandably was miffed when Watson took out Ashbee with a far worse challenge and got away with just conceding a free kick. Frustratingly we hit a series of free kicks towards the corner flag when we should be pumping them into the box, Kiraly is a good keeper mostly but prone to odd erratic moment when high balls are sent his way. The Beast controlled deftly and fed Fagan who ran impishly at goal before striking the ball, forcing the pantalooned keeper into a neat save low to his left.

Momentum was building now and a mêlée ended with Mills volleying over. Then came our best chance to equalise so far, France found Parkin free in the box, and with too much time to think about it blasted it wide with the goal at his mercy. You’d be forgiven if you thought that was that at that point, but we were given one more chance to snatch a deserved point. Amazingly it came from a corner, but instead of going once more with Dawson’s bounce the ball twice before chipping it tamely at Kiraly method, we let Yeates have a go and he fired in a cross that went beyond Kiraly and was bundled in by the knee, thigh, possibly the glans of Michael Turner for a last minute equaliser and the wave of relief that swept the stadium could have been surfed on.  

City were denied another penalty for handball during the 4 minutes of time added on, but soon the whistle  sounded to end proceedings and though in reality this wasn’t a great result against an unadventurous side that could have been beaten, the Tiger Nation applauded as if they’d witnessed a victory. The single point was enough to lift us off the bottom of the table though, as Sheffield Wednesday now give us a piggy back.  

Peter Taylor said he didn’t particularly enjoy the afternoon, I’m not sure anyone did really, there were some odd tastes in the mouth after this one; City not taking the game to a team with little attacking intent, the wasteful set pieces, some poor officiating, Cort's uncalled for celebration and Parkin's dreadful miss. Still, we should be grateful that the players kept going until the final whistle and nicked a point at the death and that we've come off the bottom. Peter Taylor can also be grateful, he didn't get the booing he was expecting, our attention is on evaluating our current manager. (LM)