Sinclair flattens Palace

A stunning solo strike by on-loan Chelsea starlet Scott Sinclair handed Plymouth the points on Saturday, making the Eagles' heroics three days earlier seem a distant memory.

The 17-year-old's goal grabbed the attention, but two guilt-edged first-half misses by Ben Watson and Leon Cort tell the real story of why Peter Taylor's men fell to their first defeat in seven games.

The Eagles now lie nine points off the play-offs with just seven matches remaining and the Palace boss admitted his side cannot afford another setback.

"It is a blow to our play-off hopes, but it is not impossible and we must now start a positive run beginning with our next match against Sheffield Wednesday," said Taylor.

"We have to play four teams which are above us, three at home and one of them away, so it's still a little bit in our hands.

"We cannot afford to slip up again."

Taylor stuck with pretty much the same 11 which started against the Baggies, the only change being Danny Butterfield coming in for the injured Matt Lawrence, but, unfortunately for the Palace boss, his side failed to produce the same intensity shown at the Hawthorns.

The home side had a penalty appeal turned down within the opening five minutes when Barry Hayles went down in the box following a tangle with Gary Borrowdale, but Palace should have compounded Plymouth's woe 10 minutes later.

Tom Soares' slide-rule pass put Watson clean though, yet the midfielder's low shot was scrambled behind by Pilgrims keeper Luke McCormick.

Shortly after central midfielder Carl Fletcher saw his stinging effort fly wide of left-hand post, before Plymouth ace David Norris dragged his shot off target from 15 yards.

Five minutes later Palace missed their second golden chance. Michael Hughes' deep right-wing cross was headed back into the danger zone by Mark Hudson and the ball fell kindly for an unmarked Cort, but the centre-back snapped at his shot and pulled it wide.

Buoyed by their let-offs, the hosts were quick out of the blocks in the second half and took the lead within three minutes courtesy of some magic from Sinclair.

After carrying the ball from deep on the left flank, he ghosted in between tame challenges from Butterfield and Fletcher to unleash a curling shot from 18 yards which hit the underside of the angle and flew into the net.

The goal shocked Palace and after a brief lull, Taylor brought on Dougie Freedman, Shefki Kuqi and Lewis Grabban in a desperate attempt to get back into the game.

Kuqi nearly made an instant impact when his header from Watson's corner was tipped over by McCormick before the Plymouth keeper saved Freedman's half-volley.

When Palace did eventually find the net through Freedman's volley, it was ruled out for offside to sum up a disappointing afternoon.

Palace star man: Carl Fletcher. Mr Consistent was again the pick of a tired-looking Palace bunch. The Welshman never stopped running and looked a threat from midfield. Should score more goals, considering the power of his shooting.Palace: Kiraly 6, Butterfield 6, Cort 6, Hudson 6, Borrowdale 6, Soares 6 (Kuqi 71 5), Fletcher 7, Watson 7, Hughes 5 (Freedman 59 5), Scowcroft 6, Morrison 5 (Grabban 71 5)