GOALKEEPER Michael Theoklitos marked his Canary debut with a clean sheet, as City continued their fine pre-season form with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

With Theoklitos making his first appearance in Canary colours, City started in a 4-4-2 formation with Chris Martin partnering recent signing Grant Holt in attack. Matt Gill and Owain Tudur Jones paired up in the centre of midfield and were flanked by Simon Whaley and Wes Hoolahan.

City's first meaningful attack came on five minutes as a raking pass out of defence from Gary Doherty found Holt down the left channel and the former Shrewsbury man surged powerfully into the box and attempted to pull the ball back into the path of strike partner Martin, but Palace defender Clint Hill was on hand to clear the danger.

Palace forced the game's first corner on ten minutes after a long-range shot cannoned off of Chris Martin but Martin himself was then on hand to clear the ball at the near post.

Palace started to get a grip on possession and City were grateful for some strong headed clearances from Gary Doherty and Michael Nelson to deal with a series of deep crosses into the City area.

Clever work from Hoolahan as he popped up down the right saw the Irishman attempt to feed Matt Gill, but the ball was half cleared before falling back at the feet of Hoolahan who curled a shot wide of Speroni's right-hand post.

Nelson had to be on his toes on 18 minutes as Lee flicked the ball into the path of the lively Freddie Sears but the former Hartlepool defender came across to deal with the threat.

City's first corner of the game saw Hoolahan's flag-kick hit the near post before the ball fell to Gill on the edge of the box who was fouled. Tudur Jones struck the resulting free-kick which Speroni was smartly down to.

Palace forced a free-kick of their own 25 yards from goal just a minute later but the City wall charged down Neil Danns' effort on goal.

The Eagles forced their second corner on 24 minutes when Michael Spillane blocked a Danns' shot. The resulting flag kick failed to cause a problem for Theoklitos and his defenders.

City pressed forward again on 28 minutes as the industrious Gill fed the ball into the path of Whaley but sadly his low, driven cross failed to beat the covering defender.

Just as Norwich appeared to be getting the upper hand Palace broke away with the pace of Sears causing problems for the City deference but the striker, on loan from West Ham, blasted his shot high and wide of the target.

Ten minutes before the break Adam Drury made an overlapping run only to see his cross blocked for City's second corner of the game. Nelson met Gill's corner with a powerful header that landed on the roof of the Palace net.

City continued to look the more likely and Whaley tried his luck with a stinging shot from the edge of the area that flew only inches wide of the target.

On the stroke of half-time Palace won a free-kick just inside the City half after Tudor Jones felled Lee but City skipper Doherty was on hand to head clear.

Half-time: Crystal Palace 0 Norwich City 0

City survived an early scare as a Palace corner on 47 minutes from Nick Carle was met with a powerful header from Clint Hill, which Doherty headed off the line to prevent the game's first goal.

A Norwich attack then saw Whaley beat two men down by the right-hand corner flag before crossing into the box for the on-rushing Tudor Jones, who in turn squared the ball to Hoolahan whose effort was cleared for a corner.

From that corner City thought they had opened the scoring on 49 minutes when Gill's deep cross sailed into the net, but the effort was ruled out by referee Phillips for a foul on 'keeper Speroni.

A period of Palace pressure came on the 56-minute-mark and City were indebted to well-timed clearances from first Nelson and then Doherty.

City took a deserved lead when Holt found Whaley on the right and the former Preston man fired a first-time shot hard and low past Speroni to the delight of City's small band of travelling fans.

Palace went in search of an equaliser and Theoklitos had to be alert to collect a whipped cross from Scannell, shortly after City had established their lead.

Gunn made his first change of the night on 70 minutes as Simon Lappin replaced Holt.

Lappin was soon into the action and let fly with a shot from the edge of the area which flew only fractionally wide of the mark.

On 76 minutes City defender Nelson suffered a nasty-looking head injury and was carried off to be replaced by triallest Kris Bright. The game was held up for five minutes while Nelson was attended to and City used the break in play to introduce Jon Otsemobor for Adam Drury.

When play restarted, Spillane partnered Doherty in the heart of the defence with Otsemobor operating in the right-back role and Lappin moving to left-back.

As Palace continued to look for a way back into the match Scannell went on a run down the right channel and tried his luck with a shot, but Theoklitos was soon down at his near post to deal with the effort.

The next Norwich changes saw Tom Adeyemi replace Tudor Jones on 85 minutes and Paul McVeigh replace goalscorer Whaley two minutes later.

City almost extended their lead on 88 minutes when Adeyemi crossed from the right to Bright whose dipping shot was deflected over the crossbar.

Final score: Crystal Palace 0 Norwich City 1

After the match City boss Bryan Gunn expressed his delight at this latest victory, he told First News: "It was a good physical encounter and something we expect to come up against on many occasions in League One next season.

"We stood up to it and we got the victory away from home and that's something we take the positives from. A lot of good effort and a lot of physical demands from the players tonight, but once we got the ball down and passed it we showed our qualities and the more often we do that, the more often we'll win games next season."

CITY: Theoklitos, Spillane, Drury (Otsemobor 80), Gill, Nelson (Bright 81), Doherty (c), Tudur Jones (Adeyemi 85), Hoolahan, Holt (Lappin 70), Martin, Whaley (McVeigh 87) subs: Alnwick (GK), Cureton,  Dumic 

PALACE: Speroni, Clyne (Butterfield 73), Hill (Cox 85), Derry (c) (N'Daye 90), McCarthy, Fonte, Danns, Carle (Hills 73), Moses (Scannell 46), Sears, Lee (Lawrence 73) subs: Flahaven (GK), Ertle 

Referee: D. Phillips

Attendance: 2,216