December 27 2012

Selhurst Park

Jamesey squelched down to Selhurst for the Huddersfield fixture but was on strict family incarceration for the Boxing Day game at Cardiff.

Well the world, of course, didn't end on Dec 21 but felt as though it nearly did during the first half against Huddersfield Town on the following day.

A tinge of sadness to start with, as I intended to sample a couple of pre-game jars of Youngs finest in the Railway Telegraph (turn right outside of Fort Neef train station). To my eternal regret yet another of our long-standing oases had bitten the dust. The boozer was shuttered and closed - another iconic boyhood Palace watering hole gone...

Considering the unrelenting downpour, the fact that the match was on TV and the proximity of Christmas, a surprisingly strong turnout of a whisker under 18,000 were on parade at Selhurst.

The ever-sporting Selhurst crowd gave a rousing welcome to two of our Old Boys, Sean Scannell and James Vaughan who now are both clad in Terriers blue and white stripes. The mood was destined to change to downright hostility as events progressed.

Eleven minutes into the game, Damien Delaney launched a homicidal tackle which earned him an instant red card. The referee was quick to send him off but I don't think many officials would have done much else such was the ferocity of the charge.

So there we were, a man down but worse was to follow. Although many thought it was a dive, Scannell fell over dramatically in the box and the referee awarded a spot-kick. After that, many who had cheered now jeered when Sean got anywhere near the ball.

To the joy of the Eagles supporters, a weak penalty was easily saved by Julian Speroni, who had a splendid first half with some world-class saves which kept us in the game.

Palace were playing well despite the numerical disadvantage and Wilfried Zaha's magical strike not long before the break meant that we ended the first period with a 1-0 scoreline.

After our previous two draws was this going to put us on the front foot again and keep our automatic promotion hopes alive? Well, not really.

With a quarter of an hour to go, our first half hero Jools let a silly shot go between his legs and Hudderfield were on even terms and stayed that way until the final whistle.

It's tough being a keeper. Strikers can miss open goals that your Auntie Maude could have scored and heads are shaken and comments are made. "Well you can't score all your chances" or "Anyone can make a mistake."

But there is little sympathy for a goalkeeper who lets a daft one in between his legs. Scorn, derision and endless repeats of TV bloopers are the lot of the unfortunate player although not from those of the red-and-blue persuasion who have seen enough Speroni match-saving efforts to be able to forgive him a momentary lapse.

Anyhow with a much tougher encounter to come on Welsh soil, our third draw on the trot left us in third place in the league table.

Visiting Cardiff City, current league leaders and hot favourites for promotion, was never going to be an easy ride.

And even the most fanatical Eagles away supporter would find the conflict of interests between family Christmas commitments and a long round trip to south Wales a non-starter.

None of my usual circle of away experts was able to make the game so I won't attempt to deal with the match itself in any detail.

Suffice it to say that it was the mixture as before - an early Mile Jedinak goal giving us an advantage that we failed to build on, conceding just before half time and then being overwhelmed before the Bluebirds scored the inevitable winner to make it 2-1.

We are still fourth in the league as I write (Dec 27) so can we find the form we were recently showing to make us table-toppers again?

We have squandered a lead in four games running and taken only three points out of twelve so those of us who were hoping against all the odds for a genuine promotion challenge are beginning to doubt that we really have the squad to do it.

But hope springs eternal in the human breast and an away trip (Dec 29) to on-form Nottingham Forest is next on the agenda. Let's play with more steel and start looking like winners again.

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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