Morrison keeps Bruce on a high

Crystal Palace 2 Bradford City

Cynical observers have already noted that after five months at Crystal Palace, his fourth club in a still young managerial career, Steve Bruce is ripe for another move, thus encouraging speculation that he is Birmingham's choice to fill Trevor Francis's shoes. But why should he leave south London, with his improving team climbing last night to second in the table?

Clinton Morrison's 10th and 11th goals of the season saw Palace through a difficult evening in which they were indebted to the defiance of goalkeeper Matt Clarke, who was strangely jettisoned by Jim Jefferies soon after the Scotsman took charge of Bradford. A string of fine saves ensured his team would collect their sixth successive win in the League.

Bradford's manager, Jim Jefferies , made three changes, the most notable being the demotion of Benito Carbone for disciplinary reasons thought to relate to a less than committed performance in Saturday's débâcle against the divisional leaders, Wolves.

Palace were lively and full of attacking intent, with the wingbacks Jamie Smith and Julian Gray keen to get involved in advanced positions. Jovan Kirovski, whose influence has been the focus of lavish praise from Bruce, worked well with Dougie Freedman to keep Bradford on the back foot and the visitors had cause on more than one occasion to be grateful for Robert Molenaar's early appreciation of danger.

Palace led from the 18th minute, a goal that owed a great deal to Morrison's improvisational skills as he appeared to turn Smith's cross-cum-shot in with his right knee. There was little to suggest they would not take that advantage into the interval before the 40th minute, when Clarke, a £1.3m signing from Bradford in the summer, did well to foil Robbie Blake and Ashley Ward in quick succession.

An Aki Riihilahti header had looped near to goal and Hayden Mullins drove wide but otherwise there was little to concern the replacement referee, Mike Tingey, who had taken over when Mark Warren hobbled off with a muscle strain after 25 minutes. A curious contest was developing in which the efforts of both teams was commendable but yielding little in the way of clear-cut opportunities.

Palace's failure to build on their advantage empowered Bradford and again Clarke was obliged to show why he is rated so highly – though not, it seems, by the Bradford management. Jefferies had replaced Gary Locke with Gareth Whalley at the break and his finely flighted free-kick was met by Ward, who saw his diving header come back off the foot of the post. Shortly after an Eoin Jess corner found David Wetherall but, to Palace's relief, Clarke reacted instinctively in turning the ball over. With five minutes remaining, he left his line to block as Andy Tod threatened to grab an equaliser.

Late in injury time Morrison made use of ample space to drive home his second goal.

Crystal Palace (5-3-2): Clarke; Smith, Austin, Popovic, Mullins, Gray; Riihilahti, Kirovski (Hopkin, 78), Rodger; Morrison, Freedman (Berhalter, 90). Substitutes not used: Kolinko (gk), Black, Thomson.

Bradford (5-3-2): Walsh; Halle, Molenaar, Wetherall, Tod, Myers; Jess, Locke (Whalley, h-t), McCall; Ward, Blake (Carbone, 83). Substitutes not used: Davison (gk), Makel, Jacobs.

Referee: M Warren (Walsall) replaced by M Tingey, 25.