February 11 2010

The FA Cup

Crystal Palace have been in the 5th round only 12 times in our history and on only 5 occasions have we progressed further, writes Simon Pophale.

50 years of disappointment

The first half-century of our existence, was a huge disappointment in terms of progress in the FA Cup. Twice we reached this stage, only to be hounded out in rather embarrassing circumstances.

Our first fifth round encounter was against Manchester City in the 1925/26 season. Sadly, we ended up on the wrong end of a 11-4 result at Maine Road. Three seasons later we were at the same stage again, but after a free-scoring cup run which saw us put 7 past Luton Town and 5 past Millwall, Huddersfield Town represented a different proposition.

At the time, Huddersfield were a hugely dominant force in the game, winning back to back league titles from 1924 to 1926 and were runner-up the following two seasons. Unsurprisingly, Huddersfield ran out 5-2 winners and it would be 36 years before we would reach this stage again.

Moving on up

Our arrival into Division Two in the 1964/65 season saw the start of an upswing in our FA Cup fortunes as well, as we reached the 5th round again. This time, we managed to progress for the very first time to the quarter finals with a 3-1 win over top-flight Nottingham Forest at Selhurst Park. This achievement is made even more significant as the majority of this Forest team went on to be League runners up in the 1966/67 season.

Our first season in the top flight of English football also coincided with a return to the FA Cup 5th round. This time our opponents were Chelsea and we had been given a good hiding only a few weeks before by the team from West London.

This time, the result was much the same as while we equalised with a Roger Hoy header after Peter Osgood (his fifth goal in two games against us) had put Chelsea in the lead. That was as good as it got for us as further goals by John Dempsey, Peter Houseman and Ian Hutchinson made it a miserable day at Selhurst, but this was a Chelsea team on their way to the final, which they won by beating Leeds at Wembley.

There was an aura of symmetry as it would be Chelsea again who would provide our next 5th round opponents in 1975/76.

We were now a Third Division team and the prospect of going to Stamford Bridge might have seemed daunting but goals from Peter Taylor (2) and Nick Chatterton saw us progress to the quarter finals for only the third time in our history.

Another promotion season, 1978/79 saw us progress to the fifth round again, but this time we lost by a single goal to Wolves at home.

1981/82 may have seemed to many as a season to be very disillusioned. The club was slowly emerging from financial difficulty and players had left en-masse, following former manager Terry Venables to QPR over the previous 12 months. Although the FA Cup brought a ray of sunshine into our lives as we made it to the 5th round and a tie against Leyton Orient. Cue a 1-0 win to set up a quarter-final against QPR.

We made it back-to-back 5th round appearances, but in 1982/83 despite gaining a 0-0 draw against Burnley; we lost by a single goal at Turf Moor in the replay.

1989/90 will be remembered by all Palace fans as the year we reached the final and on the way to that Wembley appearance, we faced Rochdale in round five and a single goal by Phil Barber saw us progress to the quarter finals.

There were 2 more appearances in the 5th round in the 1990s, as we beat Watford 1-0 with a late, late George Ndah goal in a replay in 1994/95 and we managed another replay in 1997/98 but lost by a single goal to Arsenal.

Last Time Out

The anger from 2003 has barely dimmed since our last 5th round appearance as “dirty” Leeds United (again with the ghost Venables in charge) stole a 2-1 victory at Selhurst Park. Gary Kelly took a quick free kick to put the “dirties” in front, before Julian Gray hammered in a stunning equaliser.

Dermot Gallacher then denied us a stonewall penalty and sending off as Michael Duberry handled a Tommy Black shot behind the line, so it should have been a goal as well. Playing against 12 men took it’s toll and Harry Kewell scored in the second half to knock us out.

Villa Thrillers?

There have only been two previous meetings between the sides in the cup, back in 1912/13 we were thumped 5-0 at Villa Park and in 1960/61, it was much closer but we still went out 4-3 in the midlands.

We can make history again as this is the first match against Villa in the FA Cup at Selhurst Park. It is a huge ask, but we need the money!