CRYSTAL PALACE 1 CITY 3
League Division 1
1st April 1991
attendance 18,001
scorers
City Quinn(32, 33, 52)
Palace Salako(64)
ref Keith Hackett
City Coton, Brightwell, Pointon, Reid, Heath, Redmond, White, Brennan, Quinn, Harper, M Ward – subs Hughes(unused), Allen(unused)
Palace Martyn, Humphrey, Shaw, Gray, Young, Thorn, Salako, Thomas, Bright, Wright, Pardew – subs McGoldrick(55)
NIALL QUINN SCORES A GREAT HAT-TRICK
FROM THE PRESS BOX
DON BEET WRITING IN THE GUARDIAN 2ND APRIL 1991
Niall Quinn had five chances to score yesterday, and the lanky centre forward took three of them to complete a miserable Easter for Palace and give City one of their rare away successes.
Quinn had never scored a hat-trick and Palace, still smarting from Saturday’s defeat at Sunderland, and with a Wembley appearance to come on Sunday, would have been happy for him to wait a little longer.
To be fair to Palace, they had much of the play but they lacked their normal cohesion and were stunned when Quinn struck twice in little more than a minute just past the half-hour. The goals were replicas of each other, the first swept in from six yards after a right-wing cross from Harper had eluded Humphrey and the second from the same range when White provided the service.
The Republic of Ireland striker, signed by City from Arsenal for £850,000, completed his memorable afternoon when, again from close in, he snapped up a deflected indirect free-kick taken by Ward after Brennan had been obstructed by Pardew.
Salako’s 64th-minute reply, taken smartly on the turn after he had made room for himself near the penalty spot, was no more than Palace deserved, but their subsequent efforts were too frenetic to cause the City defence more than a few flutters.
It could have been worse for the home side if Quinn had been rewarded for his two other efforts, a 25 yard shot early on that Martyn turned round his left-hand post at full stretch and a header that flashed just over the bar from a Pointon cross.
Despite the scoreline, Martyn had few other worrying moments although he gave himself one with the score still at 0-0 when he handled the ball outside his own area. City made such a mess of the free-kick that first Brennan was booked for taking it too soon, then the ball was blazed unintelligently into the Palace wall.
Palace’s reply was a strong run by Wright on the right and from his perfect square pass Bright blasted a 10 yard shot over the bar.
After more good work on the right, this time by Gray, Wright’s header was brilliantly saved by Coton, and by now it was beginning to look as if Palace must be first to score. City, and Quinn in particular, had other ideas.
But even when two down Palace stuck to their task and Coton, the busier of the two goalkeepers, thwarted Wright and Thomas before the break and blocked a Wright shot with his legs soon after the interval. He had Quinn to thank for being able to relax a little after that.
Steve Coppell, the Palace manager, was very disappointed with his side’s performance. “It was inexplicable,” he said. “We looked tired mentally and jaded mentally. We were vulnerable and Quinn gave us a lot of problems. We just didn’t look fresh.”
