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In one barrage of attacks, Berthalin stood stout against several close-range shots and headers. Ben Watson stepped up and curled the kick beautifully beyond Tony Warner.Much of the responsibility for retaining Palace's advantage fell to their goalkeeper, Cedric Berthalin, and the admirable Powell. Added to that, on the hour they found themselves reduced to 10 men.Millwall's Kevin Muscat had blocked Black some distance out, but Black was annoyed enough to kick out at him, which, considering he had already been cautioned, was unwise. Black becomes the fifth Palace player sent off this season.Six minutes later Palace's reduced team took the lead after Wise gave away a free kick just outside the area. Their scoring opportunities in the first half were virtually non existent, but at least they reached that point unscathed.Paul Ifill, wide on the right of Millwall's midfield, had done little of note bar a brief scuffle with Jamie Smith, but when, early in the second half, he began to use his pace, the Palace defence looked less composed. In spite of those awkward moments, Palace were confidently served at the back by Darren Powell, whose interceptions, both on the ground and in the air, were impressive.Palace's inability to send out their strongest team told in their failure to risk taking strength out of midfield to help support their attack. Dennis Wise inspired some pressure, but chances came and were squandered ever more frequently.A free kick from Wise floated over the goal area invitingly but without a Millwall intervention.

He also drifted an in-swinging corner that Tim Cahill headed firmly into a gap, filled by Shaun Derry with a last-second block, and Cahill also failed to stretch far enough when Tony Craig squared the ball in front of him. Neither, though, had made much of their mid-week appearances, with Palace losing at home to Sheffield United and Millwall only drawing at Stoke.With half-a-dozen senior players injured or suspended, Palace could take some encouragement from their quota of early possession out of which, nevertheless, they achieved nothing of real consequence except to frustrate Millwall.For 20 minutes Millwall had trouble in prising midfield control away from Palace. In the end, though, Millwall denied them in added time. It never takes much provocation to turn South London's derby matches into crusty affairs, and yesterday there was the added edge of Palace defending their surprising early-season front-running form and Millwall protecting an unbeaten opening run of four games. Crystal Palace's new habit of finishing matches with fewer players than they started with proved expensive at The Den yesterday. But for a time it seemed that Tommy Black's dismissal would provide the incentive to sustain them at the top of the first division.

At the top of the Third Division, York City lost their 100 per cent record when they went down 3-0 at Lincoln City and Swansea City beat nine-man Mansfield Town 4-1 to go top.. The forward nipped in to steal the ball and score, setting Forest on the way to a 2-0 win.In the Second Division, Port Vale went back to the top after a 1-0 win over Brentford and the bottom side Notts County won their first point from a 1-1 draw at Barnsley. Watford scored their first league goals of the season and gained their first point in a 2-2 home draw with Gillingham.A Richard Chaplow strike from close range earned Burnley their first home win of the season, a 1-0 defeat of Crewe, and a 90th-minute Gareth Whalley equaliser earned visitors Cardiff City a 1-1 draw at Walsall, where Alan Lee (Cardiff) and Zigor Aranalde (Walsall) were sent off.Norwich City's goalkeeper, Robert Green, caught a Nottingham Forest cross, rolled the ball in front of himself but didn't notice David Johnson lurking behind him. "We looked like Real Madrid last week when we beat West Ham but we looked like the Rose and Crown this week."At Deepdale, Stoke lost their unbeaten record and Preston North End earned their first win of the season, Paul McKenna scoring in the 1-0 win.

"It was the best result of the season after the way we played. Our midfield players admitted they couldn't pass water, the strikers were at sixes and sevens, but the back lads kept us in it."Ambitious Wigan are carrying on last season's championship form and yesterday went fourth after a convincing 3-0 win at Rotherham The Millers manager, Ronnie Moore, was scathing. Andy Hughes added the third.The Blades beat Coventry City 2-1 at Bramall Lane thanks to substitute Jack Lester's late winner It was not a prime performance, manager Neil Warnock said. The Royals' 3-0 defeat of Wimbledon at Selhurst Park saw Shaun Goater score twice to make it four goals in four games. "At the end of the season I think they will be up there in one of the two automatic promotion positions."Morale at second-placed Reading and Sheffield United, third, clearly hasn't been affected by failure in last season's play-offs. "We've got new players trying to get into the way we play and you need time for that to happen. But in football you don't get time, so if you get results in the meantime, like we've been doing, then it's got to be all well and good."Having ended their run of 17 consecutive defeats at Preston last weekend, Sunderland won their third consecutive match in convincing style when they thrashed Bradford City 4-0 at Valley Parade, Gary Breen, Marcus Stewart, his third of the season, an outstanding Julio Arca strike and Sean Thornton doing the damage."We played another relegated Premiership club, West Ham, in mid-week, but I think Sunderland are stronger," Bradford boss Nicky Law said.