October 27 2004

Iain Dowie

Three points and out of the relegation zone for the first time this season: all in all a pretty successful Saturday at Selhurst! by Edward Aarons.

Palace's convincing 3-0 win over fellow promotees West Bromwich Albion made the rest of the Premiership take notice and confirmed the irrepressible bouncebackbility that Iain Dowie's side have made their own since their return to the top flight.

Yes, “the biggest ever certainties for relegation” (TM Alan Hansen) are sitting pretty in 15th position and looking as though they believe in their ability to survive as much as their manager. But with that man AJ in the team, who can blame them.

The way the 23-year-old took his seventh goal in the Premier League showed the confidence that is seeping through him right now. Picking up the ball just inside the opposition half, his driving run and well-placed shot off the post served notice to the rest of the country of the prestigious talent we are lucky to have at our club.

When the possibility of him playing a role for Sven Goran Eriksson’s England was mentioned a few weeks ago, even the most biased Eagles supporter must have had their doubts, but such is the way he has acquitted himself on his own up front that, eventually, Sven will come calling if he keeps it up.

Pleasingly, though, it certainly wasn’t a one-man show and there were several worthy candidates for the man-of-the-match award.

Fitz Hall began a superb performance at centre-back with a well-taken header from Waynaldo’s cross that was surely among the goals of the weekend, while Ben Watson and Michael Hughes were class personified in central midfield with the repertoire of passing that West Brom failed to match dismally.

But, for me, it was the Selhurst Park faithful who truly stole the show with a breath-taking show of passionate supporting. Independent on Sunday journalist Nick Callow summed it up well in his report from Saturday’s game when he said: “A match that promised so little on such a miserable day thankfully failed to match expectations and a cracking atmosphere confounded the neutrals and showed what it meant to the supporters.”

From the moment the teams came onto the pitch, more than 21,000 people threw their weight behind the boys in red and blue and it had quite an effect.

When that first goal went in, the old stadium, recently voted as the second worst in the country for atmosphere, went beserk and the trick was repeated minutes later when AJ slammed home his penalty. 2-0 up and faced with one of the quietest group of away supporters ever to visit SE25, the Holmesdale started having some fun.

Having taken up my complimentary free tickets to initiate my girlfrend into her first football match, this was the first time this season I had experienced the winning feeling in my own seat and it felt good to be surrounded by happy faces.

Even half an hour into the game as it became clear West Brom would not score if they had played until Christmas, everyone burst into “We’re not bottom anymore!” and numerous repeats of the AJ song.

As the game went on and the buck-toothed £3.5 million waste of money Robert Earnshaw and his lanky sidekick Kanu spurned opportunity after opportunity, our chants became more and more adventurous, culminating in a confident rendition of “Bring on the Arsenal” when the stadium announcer reminded us our next game was against Arsene Wenger’s record-breakers.

But the biggest cheer of them all was reserved for the very end of the match. At the final whistle every time we won on that remarkable run on our way to the Premiership last spring, my eyes would follow Iain Dowie as he congratulated each one of his team and the opposition until he was the last person left on the pitch.

His end of match salute to the Holmesdale has become legendary amongst Palace fans but he seems to have taken it to the next level now we are in the Premiership and his five yard run and jump into the air showed exactly what this win meant to him.

Bouncebackability? We haven’t even started yet.

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