Argyle 1
Halmosi 50

Crystal Palace 0

PÉTER Halmosi gave Argyle their first home Championship victory of the season to end a run of four successive Home Park draws.

In a game of few chances at either end, Halmosi struck just after half-time with a precision volley, showing great technique to break the deadlock.

It was the Hungarian's second goal of the season and sixth since coming to Home Park, and it lit up a fairly turgid encounter in which neither goalkeeper was called upon to make a save of note, bar a spectacular effort from Palace's number one in the first half.

Argyle manager Ian Holloway had made three changes to the tired side that showed great courage to earn a 1-1 draw at home to Wolves at the weekend - one switch in each department.

EverGreen Lee Hodges was given a first Championship start of the season in preference to the previously ever-present left-back Gary Sawyer; teenager Dan Gosling was included in midfield -on the wide right - at the expense of Ákos Buzsáky; and Saturday's goalscorer Nick Chadwick retained his place in attack, with Sylvan Ebanks-Blake giving way.

Chadwick's inclusion was no doubt down to his match-turning contribution three days earlier, but it did not go unnoticed in some quarters that the ginger ninja had previously scored against Palace every time he had faced them.

Palace, too, rang a triple change, with the exclusion of striker Jamie Scowcroft from the starting XI that had also drawn 1-1 at the weekend - at Burnley - raising the most eyebrows.

His place went to on-loan Liverpool youngster Besian Idrizaj, the 19-year-old Kosovan who has chosen Austrian as his nationality. The rather less exotic Matt Lawrence and Jeff Hughes were also called up, in place of Ben Watson and Stuart Green.

An uneventful opening quarter saw neither goalkeeper extended, although Palace's Argentinian custodian Julian Speroni made a bit of a hash (corned beef, presumably) of a couple of long-range Argyle efforts. No-one in green was near enough the spillage to mop up, however.

A game which barely reached the L in 'flow' was not helped by some pernickety decisions from newbie official Rob Shoebridge who, as inexperienced refs have a tendency to do, played everything right by the book with the result that rather more whistle was heard than was wanted.

Out of nowhere, after half an hour, Argyle fashioned what was far and away the most auspicious moment of the half. Barry Hayles made space on the left for a cross which perfectly split the two Palace centre-backs, inbetween who had run Chadwick. His header was powerful enough, but rather too nicely the right height for Speroni, who pushed the ball over the crossbar.

Palace responded with Danny Butterfield leading a raid down their right. His cross was good, but a little too far in front of Idrizaj - who had earlier been booked for an assault on Hodges - for the Austro-Albanian Scouse South Londoner to get more than a weak head to the ball.

Right on the cusp of the interval, Halmosi's persistence saw the ball break to Chadwick, free in the centre of goal about ten yards out, but Palace's bogeyman snatched at the unexpected chance and hit the ball tamely straight at Speroni.

Palace manager Peter Taylor introduced Irish international Clinton Morrison at half-time, withdrawing Idrizaj, with the new man still seeking his century of goals for the Eagles, a month after his 99th successful strike.

Morrison was upstaged by the somewhat less prolific Halmosi, however, within five minutes from the restart.

Hayles foraged well on the wide left again before laying the ball back to Hodges for a deep cross into the penalty area which the Palace defence cleared vertically, rather than horizontally. Halmosi watched the ball drop and slammed home the pluperfect volley, with defender Tony Craig's attempts to clear merely helping the ball over the goal-line.

Both sides changed their personnel soon after the hour, with Taylor putting on winger Stuart Green and midfielder Ben Watson, and Holloway replacing Hayles with Ebanks-Blake.

The game reverted to its first-half shape, with two tight sides largely cancelling out each other and the officials being a little to tight themselves.

Palace, though, started to spread the game in search of the equaliser that might prove to be a stay of execution for their under-pressure manager although they still found it nigh on impossible to fashion a clear goalscoring opportunity.

For the last ten minutes, they threw big centre-back Leon Cort into the van, a tactic which saw Mat Kouo-Doumbe brought on from the Argyle bench and the back line sit deeper and deeper.

In the end, the Pilgrims easily saw off what little threat Palace posed and they will barely get three easier points this campaign

Argyle (4-4-2): 23 Luke McCormick; 2 Paul Connolly, 5 Krisztián Timar, 19 Marcel Seip, 17 Lee Hodges; 22 Dan Gosling (8 Ákos Buzsáky 73), 7 David Norris, 4 Lilian Nalis, 16 Péter Halmosi; 11 Nick Chadwick (13 Mathias Kouo-Doumbe 85), 10 Barry Hayles (capt, 9 Sylvan Ebanks-Blake 64). Substitutes (not used): 14 Rory Fallon, 18 Gary Sawyer.

Booked: Norris 81.

Crystal Palace (4-4-2): 12 Julian Speroni; 2 Matt Lawrence, 6 Leon Cort, 5 Mark Hudson, 3 Tony Craig; 20 Danny Butterfield (25 Stuart Green 62), 19 Tom Soares (14 Ben Watson 62), 7 Carl Fletcher (capt), 24 Jeff Hughes; 22 Paul Dickov, 17 Besian Idrizaj (10 Clinton Morrison half-time). Substitutes (not used): 1 Scott Flinders (gk), 23 Jose Fonte.

Booked: Idrizaj 21.

Referee: Rob Shoebridge (Derbyshire).

Attendance: 10,451 (476 away).