April 11 2010

Selhurst Park

Jamesey was bitterly disappointed at our team's performance in a crucial relegation match.

Well, let's get my penitent bit out of the way first.

In my last column I put up the headline "We are staying up..." and that sentiment was based on the great optimism I felt after four excellent performances in a row and seven points out of the previous three games.

Some HOL members picked me up on that headline, saying that it wasn't the case and it would have been better not to let my enthusiasm get the better of me.

After our miserable 0-2 defeat against Queens Park Rangers (Apr 10), the doubters had a lot of justification for telling me not to tempt providence.

After over half a century as a Palace supporters, I, of all people, should have known better than to think we would not be let down by our team.

But, of course, we are talking about Crystal Palace and to expect us to beat a struggling side (struggling through performances not through a 10-point deduction) was obviously a delusion of mega proportions.

After all, they hadn't won for quite a few matches and to lose at Selhurst would have dropped them into the relegation mire.

Right from the start we were outplayed by a lively Hoops unit and were second best in all departments.

As the game went on, we seemed to get worse and worse, with misdirected passes, schoolboy errors and no discernible tactics whatsoever than hoof-ball straight to the Rangers defenders.

And a crowd of 20,430 (including a big bunch of very noisy Hoops fans) who had come to enjoy possibly our most important game of the season in glorious spring weather were served up one of the most inept displays I have seen since our 0-4 slaughtering by Scunthorpe United back in September.

Like many thousands of others, I left before the final whistle. My excuse - if I needed an excuse after what I had witnessed - was to get on board a Victoria train before the arrival of a horde of gloating, jeering, mocking QPR supporters arrived at the station.

Well, we are not down yet and with three more games to play we can still stay up. There are five clubs that will almost certainly provide the two candidates for the third division besides already doomed Peterborough. But if we carry on like we did against QPR, survival is well nigh an impossibility.

Incidentally, Alassane N'Diaye was sitting a couple of seats away from me. He was on his own and didn't look particularly happy.

I was mentally brushing up my French to ask him why he had been dropped from the squad but decided that wouldn't be very tactful. He is a very big man when you are next to him.

By the time I had thought of another question he had gone. And so another journalistic triumph was missed...

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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