August 6 2005

Andy Johnson

Maybe we were too over-optimistic, maybe we were living in la la land. But any idea we were going to pummel Luton and this division into oblivion disappeared after this opening game which promised so much and delivered nothing except a huge dose of reality, writes Simon Pophale.

I am going to lay the defeat squarely at the feet of 2 people: Iain Dowie and Mark Hudson. It is plainly obvious (at least to the majority of the fans) that we have no left-sided cover and how Dowie could start with Hudson ahead of Ward, who had played well in pre-season stunned me beyond belief.

The fact is that Hudson missed 2 very good opportunities, heading wide from corners when totally unmarked on 12 and 20 minutes as well as guilty for the foul on Warren Feeney which lead to Lutons’ opener on 43 minutes, when Steve Howard exploited a poor offside trap to head home with the freedom of south-east London all around him.

It could have been even worse as Gary Borrowdales’ shirt pull on Steve Robinson on 23 minutes resulted in a penalty. Kevin Nicholls at least had one off-moment in the game by firing it low to Kiralys’ left and the big Hungarian pulled off a wonderful save to keep us in it.

We should have been behind by more than the one goal. Feeney was denied by Fitz Hall with a one-on-one and Howard had let another chance go begging on 15 minutes, heading tamely at Kiraly from 10 yards. All we had to show for the 1st half was a AJ chance which went away as the ball wouldn’t sit for him after Dean Brill mishit a clearance on the advancing Jon Macken after 11 minutes and Fitz Hall had a towering header cleared of the line by Markus Heikkinen after 37 minutes.

We had been outplayed and out-fought and the half-time boos and jeers should have been enough to give the players the kick in the pants they needed.

If there were any hopes that the 2nd half would show that the goal would provide the wake-up call that we all wanted, we were not going to be too disappointed, as with only 5 minutes gone, Jobi McAnuff picked the ball up and ran past at least 4 Luton players before being upended outside the penalty area.

From there, Watson laid off to AJ whose shot was turned around the post by Dean Brill. However from the corner, Fitz Hall nudged the ball goalwards but AJ headed in from close range. For the next 10-15 minutes, we had the edge, forcing corners and having the majority of the possession.

But we couldn’t make it count. McAnuff again was tormenting Luton and from yet another corner, his header was push ed around the post by Brill on 69 minutes. That was about as good as it was going to get.

When Mark Hudson again conceded another free kick on the touchline on 79 minutes, it seemed completely needless as Feeney was going nowhere. Kevin Nicholls swung the free kick over and Ahmet Brkovic bundled the ball in from 2 yards. 2-1 and we got what we deserved from this game – nothing.

Palace Man of the Match – Jobi McAnuff : Who’s Wayne?

Moan of the Match: Mark Hudson – How and Why?

Referee: Phil Dowd – 3/10: Elite referee?!? Petty, inconsistent and poor decision making led to the 5 minutes of added time was because he couldn’t get an injury sorted out

Crystal Palace: Kiraly, Boyce, Hudson, F Hall, Borrowdale, Soares, Watson, Hughes, McAnuff, Macken, Johnson.

Subs: Speroni, Ward, Leigertwood, Kolkka, Andrews.

Luton Town: Brill, Foley, Coyne, Davies, Morgan, Nicholls, Brkovic, Robinson, Underwood, Howard, Feeney.

Subs: Seremet, Vine, Showunmi, Heikkinen, Holmes.