Francis enters his proving ground

Crystal Palace 2 Manchester City 1

Kevin Keegan may not have been happy with the outcome, but Manchester City's visit here yesterday was replete with unrewarded hope, while his counterpart, Palace's new manager, Trevor Francis, now knows he has a foundation on which to build.

For both managers, this is a season for proving a lot of critics wrong. For Francis, there has always been that feeling that he has not quite got what it takes to be seriously and lastingly successful. For Keegan, there is some of that and a bit more, since City need to re-establish themselves as much as he does.

Of the two, with resources taken into account, Keegan is obviously the more likely to end this particular campaign ahead, although whether sufficiently far to gain automatic promotion for City is debatable. He admitted yesterday: "You don't get promoted on how well you play."

This marked City's second visit to South London in four days, on the heels of a 3-2 victory at Millwill that lifted them to third place. On that occasion, Keegan had been "sent off'' for arguing with the referee, but had been miffed from the start, as previous troubles between the clubs meant that no City fans had been allowed to attend.

They were out in force here and their team needed the back-up, as Palace moved the ball brightly and swiftly at first. But Francis' side failed to support the momentum from midfield, allowing City's head-down, flying winger, Darren Huckerby, to beat a dangerous track down the left side.

Huckerby then attempted the central route, which brought him up against their new £400,000 signing from Fulham, Kit Symons, who gradually found himself trying to direct a defence under gathering pressure. But, after half an hour, Symons risked an upfield excursion to good effect when Hayden Mullins lifted a free-kick towards a congested City penalty area. Symons headed on and the ball dropped to Dougie Freedman who, with familiar incisiveness, beat the oncoming Carlo Nash to hit his 14th goal of the season.

If Nash's timing was uncertain in trying to intercept the first goal, he was more culpable for the second on the stroke of half-time. A centre from Simon Rodger was headed backwards by Lucien Mettomo, towards his own goal, and Jovan Kirovski stuck out a foot. Nash seemed to have the ball covered but it escaped him and went over the line.

After the interval, Freedman continued to cause Mettomo difficulties on the ground and, when he moved wide, one low cross was astonishingly sidefooted over the bar from two yards by Clinton Morrison.

Palace suffered for failing to grab that opportunity and, after 68 minutes, City deservedly got themselves in sight of at least equal shares. Eyal Berkovic, always lively and imaginative, put Shaun Wright-Phillips in possession in one of several attractively devised attacks. Wright-Phillips quickly found Shaun Goater while Alex Kolinko was caught out of position and Goater located the empty net.

City's strike forced Palace to spend the final 20 minutes falling back under the constant pressure of City's offensive repertoire. Huckerby came alive after a quiet half an hour and, with the dashing Wright-Phillips attacking them on the other flank, Palace were stretched.

That they retained their advantage was hugely encouraging for Francis, who has injured players still to resume, but in the end he had to thank Kolinko for a last-minute, finger-tip save from Mettomo's header to keep the winning points.

Crystal Palace 2

Freedman 31, Kirovski 45

Manchester City 1

Goater 68

Half-time: 2-0 Attendance: 22,080