February 3 2008

Selhurst Park

Jamesey looks at our last two games and hopes for a steadying-up in the coming weeks.

All good things come to end and our unbeaten run and our luck duly ran out at the Walkers Stadium on Monday (Jan 28).

In what was generally agreed to be an atrociously unentertaining game played on a quagmire, Leicester City had the luck and an extremely silly goal careened into our net at the end of the game. One-nil to the Foxes.

Unlike the brave and dedicated supporters who headed for the midlands on a bleak January night, I at least watched the game in a warm hostelry, kept cheerful by excellent Youngs ales and warmed by a plate of Monday night half-price pork chops and trimmings.

Mind you, due to the lack of interest in either Palace or Leicester in my local area, I had to bribe and flatter mine host to switch the game onto his big screen at all.

And for the first time ever, I watched the match totally alone, in the back room of the Kings Arms, Wandsworth High Street.

Nobody likes losing to last minute freak goals and 0-0 would have been a just result, but we all shrugged philosophically...just a blip, normal service resumes on Saturday (Feb 2) against Southampton.

Walking out of Thornton Heath train station en route to the Lap Hing chippie (best fish and chips and all the rest in south London) there seemed to be a far bigger police presence than of late and I honestly was puzzled as to the reason. Palace v Saints has no particular history as a troublesome fixture that I can remember

The Saints were without a manager after George Burley had jumped ship to take the Scotland job and we had every reason to be optimistic for three points looking at the form book.

The game was watchable enough and Palace played in the Warnock style...fast, furious, direct and uncompromising.

After James Scowcroft's superb strike, followed by a couple of tantalising near misses, it looked like the points were ours.

But, of course, a silly defensive error gave the Saints a chance to equalise which they took with eager efficiency and the points were shared. Another game where we were mugged at the death.

My question about the police presence seemed to be answered during the game with outbreaks of missile throwing and stupidity on both sides.

Having often congratulated football supporters and everyone else involved over the years for cleaning up the game, I am beginning to wonder if I was living in a fool's paradise.

Are we really heading back to the mindless and moronic days of the 70s and 80s when friends would say to me: "You don't still go to football do you? I used to love it but I wouldn't go near it any more and I certainly wouldn't take my wife or kids." ?

What makes it worse is that the modern hooligan uses words like "atmosphere" and "passion" as synonyms for obscene chanting, bottle-chucking and all the rest of it.

We mustn't let all that nastiness start developing anew.

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