Young Palace striker Clinton Morrison will celebrate his 19th birthday tomorrow (Thursday).

But it's doubtful the festivities will match the joyous scenes in the Sunday Selhurst sunshine shortly before six o'clock on the Eagles' Premiership swansong.

Debutant Morrison blasted home his first-ever senior goal with virtually the last kick of Palace's season after being handed his first cap with just eight minutes left.

And in a bizarre way it was fitting that Palace should have the final say on a disastrous return to the top flight.

The goal sealed just Palace's second home win of the season - and their only league double of a miserable campaign, the club's first-ever double over the Owls.

Many Wednesday players seemed as sleepy as their nocturnal namesakes as Palace controlled proceedings for long stretches of a meaningless end of season match.

But at least coach Brian Sparrow can have the satisfaction of seeing the Eagles keep their first clean sheet in the league since December. Andy Linighan was surprisingly restored to the side, with Jamie Smith not even featuring on the bench.

Otherwise the game was memorable only for some dazzling skills by Paolo DiCanio, superb wing-back wizardry by Eagles' player of the season Marc Edworthy, an eye-catching appearance from young Irishman Tony Folan - and of course Morrison's last-gasp goal.

A superb ball from former Wednesday utility man Paul Warhurst split the Owls' defence and Attilio Lombardo, possibly playing out his Palace swansong, raced onto the ball, slipped it past the hapless Kevin Pressman and rolled it across the six yard box where a gleeful Morrison was waiting to pounce, a full two minutes into stoppage time.

It was a goal Morrison - and the 16,878 long-suffering Palace fans in attendance - richly deserved after a season even the most die-hard supporters will wish to forget.

Afterwards, Brian Sparrow said: "Clinton's a chirpy lad. He'll be talking about this goal until the start of next season!

"It's important for Palace to make a decision on the club's future soon so the players know what direction they are going in. I would love to be asked to play some role but I'm not counting on it."

Ray Lewington added: "We should already be thinking about next season but we can't because we don't know what's happening. Everything hinges on the takeover and the sooner it's sorted, the better."

The takeover fiasco is expected to be concluded sometime this month but the longer it drags on the more difficult it will become for Palace to keep hold of their star names.

Write to Eagle Eye at the Croydon Guardian, Guardian House, Sandiford Road, Sutton, Surrey SM3 9RN and tell us exactly where the season went wrong for a special feature on the Eagle's Premiership campaign next week.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.