The forthcoming Middlesbrough game and WBA's stalwart performance this week with nine men against Blackpool reminds me of a second division game against 'boro at Selhurst on 4th February 1984 in front of a remarkably low crowd of 4,819.

Expectations should have been high as we had just ended a run of seven games without a win and only one draw by beating Newcastle 3-1 at home about 10 days before with goals from McCulloch, Mabbutt and Gilbert in front of a crowd of 9,464. One can only assume that about 5,000 of them were Geordies but it's doubtful. Chelsea, Leeds and Man City were also in the same division then!

I am not sure what stage of the game it was but believe it was fairly early in the second half when Kevin Mabbutt was sent off for quite a nasty foul on a 'boro player followed quickly by the brilliant but mercurial Billy Gilbert launching a verbal attack on a ref well known for his intransigence.

Palace mounted the inevitable defensive strategy and with a frantic, albeit small, crowd behind them managed to keep 'boro at bay with some superb work by Cannon and Nicholas at the helm. We also had the advantage of having the speed of Giles and Hilaire as an outlet for rare sorties into the opposition half. They were defending the Holmesdale end and on of those rare forays Vince Hilaire ran almost clear into the penalty area and was promptly and clearly fouled. The ref gave a penalty and with the crowd going mad Peter Nicholas stepped up and struck the ball confidently into the net.

We then hung on for what seemed like an age with George Wood making some excellent saves and won the game 1-0. Team: Wood, Locke, Gilbert, Hughton, Cannon, McCulloch, Giles, Hilaire, Stebbing, Nicholas, Mabbutt.

That should have inspired us to go on to greater things but in typical Palace fashion we failed to win any of the next 6 games. Things don't change and we ended up i8th in the league signalling the end of our old mate Alan Mullery MBE and the introduction of Sir Steve.

lo Selhurst silva felix, lo Selhurst cara nutrix, viget, vigeat, vigebit! Best team:- Jackson; Gilbert, Evans, Cannon, Sansom; Hughes, Kember, McNichol; Byrne, Holton, Wright.

I was there that day in the Holmesdale when Peter Nicholas scored in front of us. I seem to remember that Malcolm Allison was manager of Boro at the time and they made a big deal of going cheap and staying up at the Crystal Palace sports centre rather than in a hotel.

Edited by Garfy (03 Nov 2010 10.44am)

No but it was the penultimate home game on 4th May 1985 with a crowd of 4,900. It's hard to believe that our crowds actually were as low as that. We were still suffering from Mulleryitis!

lo Selhurst silva felix, lo Selhurst cara nutrix, viget, vigeat, vigebit! Best team:- Jackson; Gilbert, Evans, Cannon, Sansom; Hughes, Kember, McNichol; Byrne, Holton, Wright.

Just remember the Cannon header, and the bloke over the tannoy at the end of the game, bellowing out we would still be playing 2nd division football!! glory days ay.. could you imagine if the HOL was around then, we would know every supporter at the ground through here..

I was 10 years old, only my 3rd full season of supporting Palace,My Dad used to tell me about 1979 and the Burnley game, hard to believe him when the ground was so empty. I thought it was the norm. At least you could get a cup of bovril pretty quick, and the smell of cigars.. what a young football memory!

Edited by MPE (04 Nov 2010 3.08pm)

Just when I thought that I was out...........they pull me back in

I have no memory of this game and when I first checked I saw that we ended up 15th in the league, thus doubting that we needed to win the last game to stay up.

But you're spot on. Palace ended up with 48 points, ironically along with Boro and Charlton. Chelsea had 47 so were also in jeopardy of going into the 3rd division. Burnley and Bolton went down with 44 points to demonstrate how crucial that last game was. Amazingly Edwards didn't play for us again.

QPR went up that year and came fifth in the 1st division the following year as the top London club. Wolves went up as runners up but were rock bottom the following season. Southampton were runners up in the 1st Division.

A completely different world!

lo Selhurst silva felix, lo Selhurst cara nutrix, viget, vigeat, vigebit! Best team:- Jackson; Gilbert, Evans, Cannon, Sansom; Hughes, Kember, McNichol; Byrne, Holton, Wright.

remember the boro game like it was yesterday, alan mullery era was the worst in palace history in my opinion, whoever thought it was a good idea to bring that tosser to palace needed there head examined.

" I hate those f@cking northern monkeys " The late Lenny Mclean.