February 17 2005

Andy Johnson

Not since June 1993 when Nigel Martyn played in a friendly against Germany have we been able to cheer on a Palace player in the England team, by Neil McSteen.

Andrew Johnson replacing Wayne Rooney in the 61st minute against Holland was therefore a moment to savour.

Let's forget the arguments about AJ being played out of position; the mere fact that our hero was gracing the park with the likes of Beckham and Gerrard was exciting enough.

That AJ had been training with England for a few days is also good for Palace.

After all, a few tips picked up from Rooney and Owen can't be bad.

AJ is now an example to the rest of the Palace lads as to what they can achieve while playing under Iain Dowie in SE25.

And it's not just AJ.

Wayne Routledge and Ben Watson represented England's U21s, with manager Peter Taylor insisting that both would be used in the forthcoming UEFA U21 Championship qualifiers, whilst Gary Borrowdale turned out for the U20s.

Live Croydon Guardian text commentary