October 5 2011

Can being in beautiful Santorini compensate for missing the Brighton beamback bliss?

Now returned from Greece's Cycladic islands, Jamesey laments the games he didn't see.

Going on holiday can be a risky business for football supporters. September is a good time to go to the Greek islands... it's cooler, cheaper and most of the "yoof" have gone back to schools and colleges, leaving the bars and tavernas quieter and less busy for the more reflective and contemplative older generation.

That's what the Jamesey menage have done for quite a few years now and most of the time I don't appear to have missed any games of massive interest.

However this year I managed to get it wrong big time and missed three matches which I would have certainly attended. I presume the HOL messageboard poster nit-pickers would allow me to include the Brighton beamback as watching the game as I couldn't have got a ticket anyway.

The day after our disappointing 0-1 loss to Middlesbrough (Sept 17), we flew to Santorini, one of the most beautiful islands in the Mediterranean, if not the world.

I had watched a sunset to die for when a text informed me that we had beaten Boro 2-1 in the Mickey Mouse Cup. I would have swapped that victory with our league loss without any hesitation.

But I must admit that when you get past the third round of the league cup, a faint whiff of Wembley assails the nostrils and for one who has not been to the new Wembley stadium, well the possibility is always exciting.

By the time Palace travelled to Doncaster for the away league game (Sept 24), I had taken the four-hour ferry journey to the island of Milos where the no-armed floozie in the Louvre came from - OK, Venus de Milo, if you want to be pedantic.

After last season, losing away is almost the norm and our 1-0 defeat against struggling Rovers wasn't even surprising. I have not got round to reading any reports of the game and doubt if I will bother now anyway.

It was getting more interesting as the evening of Sept 28 approached. I make no apologies for repeating yet again that to most Palace supporters of my vintage, the Neanderthals from SE16 are our ultimate enemy and a bunch of Kemptown mincers don't spark off much ire in yours truly.

Still, playing the Seagulls has been a spicy occasion for quite a few years now and in the away pen of the old Goldstone Ground, I enjoyed my first experience of having pebbles from the beach hurled at me in large numbers and at great velocity. It was, I think, Boxing Day 1979 if memory serves me well, although it probably doesn't.

As I sat digesting my lamb and roast aubergines overlooking the port in Adamas, I received a cruel text telling me that Palace were 1-0 down with 10 minutes to go. It didn't sound good. A while later a second text arrived telling me that the Eagles had scored three in the last 10 minutes. I almost choked on my ouzo at the glorious news. Things really were going well.

The last match I desperately regretted missing was home to West Ham (Oct 1) and although conceding a late Hammers goal to leave the score at 2-2 was disappointing, a point didn't seem too depressing against a quality team with a top division pedigree.

Now we are safely home in south London, my next game will be a mid-week evening match against Bristol City unless I decide to travel away to Watford before that.

Next week I will be celebrating a very big birthday. In fact if you go by Biblical statistics it ought to be my last one. But, of course, modern medicine is keeping many of us going long after that milestone, and I hope to be at Selhurst Park for quite a few more seasons yet.

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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