October 15 2017

Midfield men James McArthur and Willian size each other up during a thrilling Palace victory

Selhurst Park was a joyous place to be after reigning league champions Chelsea were put to the sword with a 2-1 win. Jamesey enjoyed every minute of an entertaining duel.

Until now, there hasn’t been anything very cheerful to put in this column as CPFC have been breaking records of a kind you don’t really want.

After a goal famine and a succession of losses, supporters have almost forgotten that feel-good sensation after a victory. And there have been relatively few indications from the team’s performances that this has been likely to change any time soon.

So like most of my fellow supporters I turned up for the home game against the Blues (Oct 14) with hope but only of the forlorn type.

This long-term follower has consoled himself with the thought that we are in a shocking mess but there have been much more shocking messes to endure than this.

A mere seven years ago we nearly went bust and were fortunate that a consortium of local business entrepreneurs coughed up enough to keep us afloat. Otherwise we could have had no matches at all to lose.

And during the mid-70s, I dutifully but miserably watched two relegations in succession as we sunk down into the old Third Division.

Now those are what could be called gold-plated mega-messes.

Nevertheless, anxiety was palpable as the whistle blew to kick off against a frightening array of white-kitted talent.

The crowd had roared their approval at the announcement that the ever-popular Julian Speroni was between the sticks, in place of injured Wayne Hennessey.

Significantly, Palace’s very own talismanic favourite Wilfried Zaha was back in the frame too.

After only a couple of minutes, one noticed that something was different.

Instead of being overawed and backing off, the red-and-blue team were really going for it, passing accurately and closing down Chelsea swiftly.

Who needs a giant striker when you have Wilf and Andros Townsend up front, dribbling and swerving their way through the Chelsea ranks and causing them big problems.

Frankly, to begin with the Blues who were not prepared for a blitzkrieg like this and must have wondered what on earth had hit them. And what really hit them after 11 minutes was what appeared to be a goal from Yohan Cabaye, later attributed to Cesar Azpilicueta (og).

The stadium went berserk — at last the goal drought was ended and who cared how it was scored.

Sadly the lead only lasted 7 minutes until Tiemoue Bakayoko headed a rather easy equaliser.

Nevertheless, heads didn’t drop and the Eagles continued to press although Speroni still had to save a couple of challenging attempts.

The new-found excellent teamwork reaped its reward when, just before half-time Mamadou Sakho laid on a pass for Wilf to fire past Thibaut Courtois.

Chelsea aren’t league champions for nothing and in the second half Palace still kept them at bay.

Towards the end of the proceedings the Eagles could have increased their lead if Patrick van Aanholt hadn’t missed a sitter.

Even so, the points were in the bag with a 2-1 victory and if CPFC can play at anything like this level against lesser teams than the boys from Stamford Bridge, a climb to safety should not be a problem.

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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