May 19 2005

Dougie Freedman

Simon Pophale gives his verdict on Palace's 2-2 draw at Charlton.

We called in favours far and wide, from strangers (Alain Perrin), friends (Chris Coleman) and possibly enemies too (Glazer's new monkey boy, the man that they call Ferguson).

In total fairness and respect, all the teams on the final day gave thier all, with the exception of possibly our own for a moment of madness late in the second half.

It was all going so well, we were by far the better of the 2 sides in the opening 30 minutes, Fitz Halls early effort bringing a wonderful save from Dean Kiely, newly restored to Charlton's goal.

When Wayne Routledge sent a drive in which had Kiely scrambling all over to keep out, we had lots of reasons to be optimistic. Fulham were doing thier bit for us as they were 2 -0 up and United had managed to pull level. Still, it was now back in our hands...

When Bryan Hughes scored. A poor goal to concede and one Danny Butterfield wont want to remember either. Caught out at the back, his error let in Hughes to open the scoring, beating Kiraly to his right with the aid of a post.

Cue deflation but still, it wasnt over. Half time came and we still had 45 minutes to turn it around. In fact, turning it around was something that was NOT going to happen at Craven Cottage, Fulham were dominating and Portsmouth were keeping WBA at bay. All to play for then.

2nd half and on 52 minutes, Iain Dowie took off Butterfield, whose season will be one that he himself will want to forget, for Dougie Freedman, the man who had not scored a Premiership goal all season. It proved to be a masterstroke as within 5 minutes, Luke Young could not get to grips with the ex-Scotland International and with Kiely advancing, deftly chipped him to level the scores.

The ball took an age to go in and Freedmans' last goal was on this ground in the Carling Cup, so his celebration was a wide as the rolling hills of the Highlands when it hit the back of the net. If only he had scored some weeks earlier, it could have led to a hatful.

But Freedman was playing like a man possessed. AJ had been superbly marshalled by El-Karkouri and Hreidarsson so literally he had no sniff of a chance. However Freedman expolited that space and Charlton could not cope with him.

So when Freedmans' cross was handled by Johnathon Fortune and Mark Clattenburg pointed to the spot, sheer joy broke in the Jimmy Seed Stand. But, with nervousness too.

We knew that United were now ahead, we also knew that Fulham were 4 goals to the good against Norwich, but we also knew that AJ had missed against Kiely before.

In the highest of high pressure situations, AJ kept his head and we were now not only in front, but also staying up. Not even news of West Broms opening goal could keep us down. 72 minutes gone, 18 to go. It was going to be a long 18 minutes.

Sadly for us, the situation was so reminiscent of what had gone the week before. Nicola Ventolas' goal came maybe too early for us. In the same way, so had AJs. We last half of those remaining minutes before a moment of Mikele madness helped the hosts level.

Leigertwood, climbing all over the back of Jerome Thomas, conceded a needless free kick. Thomas swung it over and Fortune scrambled the ball home to send West Brom fans into dreamland and ourselves into depression. It looked over.

A feeling which gathered pace as Dowie brought on Darren Powell as a striker instead of Nicola Ventola to try to force the issue. A move which I do not understand to this day.

If anyone deserved a chance to keep us up, it was the Italian who had been through so much injury this season. His joy at scoring the week before was unbridled, his ability looks boundless even if the injuries are ever frequent. Yet he sat on the bench, powerless now fit to do anything about it.

The 8 minutes sped by and before we knew it, it was over. Charlton fans sung the song made famous by Peter Kay in that they sent us down, but it did not matter. Through this long wonderful 18 month journey we had been on, it had been a great and wonderful ride.

As ever, the away support was just marvellous and if we did not hang on to our Premiership status, or we may not hang on to our players, as it seems now Sorondo will go to Standard Liege in Belgium, Lakis will sign for AEK Athens and Routledge may end up in Spurs reserves after all, we have now got a well run club with no financial problems, one of the most respected managers in the game at the moment and a striker who if he stays, will score 30 goals again next season, without question.

After 5 long years of people laughing at us, we have got respect back at Selhurst Park. Universally pundits were sad to see us go. Things could always be worse, we are not Southampton. They finished bottom and after 27 long years at the top, may find the 2nd tier too much of a challenge.

There are real reasons why it has taken me 4 days to write this match report. A lot of them I dont want to go into. But I was more depressed when we lost to Leicester in 1996, Arsenal in 1993 and when we nearly went out of business.

We have been beaten, but we will never be defeated. Certainly the fans did not feel that and both ID and SJ dont feel it. I for one, am looking forward to next season as we will prove that we have bouncebackability and go back up automatically. Just who will remain there when the season kicks off in August, is the only question mark left.

Man of the Match: Dougie Freedman - Must be allowed to stay and get his 100 goals now.