February 6 2009

Crystal Palace

It's certainly a grim start to 2009 for the Eagles, with four defeats on the trot. Jamesey reports.

Yes, four defeats on the spin, and it was my destiny to witness all of them except the Charlton away fixture.

It has to be said that we are going through a rather worrying spell at the present, losing to sides to which we really should have put up a better display, especially Charlton and Blackpool.

I think that, putting aside the shame of that defeat by the Clowns, the most ignominious was our awful home performance against the Seasiders (Jan 31).

Perversely squandering a gift-wrapped opportunity after the Tangerines' keeper was sent off as the echoes of the ref's kick-off whistle had scarcely faded, was bad enough. But worse was to come when John Oster's blatant foul in the box gave three points to the visitors. We just couldn't score even against 10 men.

Well, at least the cancellation of our evening home game against Birmingham City meant that it was impossible to lose five matches running for the immediate future.

And the postponement of our away game at Barnsley (Feb 7) with a day's notice was equally welcome.

Perhaps a little time for reflection and addressing some of the problems with our team and tactics will see an improved and rejuvenated Palace run out at Plymouth, lack of blizzards and ice permitting. Well, we can only hope.

I think the whole trend of cancelling games with at least a day's notice because of likely weather threats is commendable. For once the travelling fans are considered and don't have to make expensive and time-wasting journeys for nothing.

I am fortunate in that I have so far never made an away trip where a fixture was cancelled. On the other hand, several times, before the age of the internet and mobile phones, I have turned up at Selhurst to find the match cancelled through fog, snow or waterlogged pitch. It was never that big a deal for me apart from obvious disappointment, but if I had flogged all the way down from Gateshead or Doncaster I would have been heartbroken.

The cancelled Barnsley game does carry a kind of bonus for me at any rate.

I will be able to concentrate solely on England versus Italy in the Six Nations rugby tournament on Saturday afternoon instead of trying to follow both the football radio commentary on Palace World and watching my TV screen for the other affair.

Multi-tasking, even to the extent of two, is becoming a challenge too far for my rapidly dwindling brain cell count these days.

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

In Depth Jamesey's Veteran View Index