Shaun Goater's 23rd goal of the season was not enough to save Manchester City from defeat at Crystal Palace on Saturday.

The Blues went down 2-1 in London in a game that kicked off half-an-hour late due to crowd congestion.

The defeat brought to an end City's winning streak, which had stood at nine points from three games in the league.

Goater had the chance to put City into the lead in the 23rd minute, the Bermudian beating the offside trap but opting to cross to Shaun Wright-Phillips rather than go for goal himself and the opportunity went begging.

Four minutes later Goater had a header skim the crossbar and seconds after he should have done better than blaze a shot over after good work by Ali Bernabia and Eyal Berkovic.

Palace did what City could not in the 31st minute, Dougie Freedman touching the ball past Carlo Nash in goal after Kit Symons had set him free.

The Londoners doubled their lead just before the break when Nash allowed a Jovan Kirovski shot to squeeze under his body.

Goater and City came out in determined fashion after the interval and the striker was unlucky to see his on-goal effort rebound off a defender to safety.

He did reduce the arrears in the 68th minute, drilling home to give City hope.

With time running out Goater brought the save of the game out of Palace 'keeper Alex Koloniko — the goalie acrobatically tipping over his inch perfect header with three minutes left.