March 4 2012

Crystal Palace

February and early March went as well as January went awry. Jamesey gives his thoughts.

Only the most ultra-critical Eagles supporter could complain about three away draws and two home wins in our last five league outings and, rest assured, this writer is not one of them.

I watched our away game against West Ham at the Boleyn Ground on-line, thanks to one of the links kindly provided by the HOL's own "staffie".

Taking on opposition of the highest quality, we dominated the first half and, but for the performance of the Hammers' international class 'keeper, would surely have been a couple of goals to the good when the half-time whistle blew.

However, the Hammers turned up the heat in the second period and showed why they are strong contenders for a return to the Show-me-the-money-ship next season.

But we came back over the river with a point after a 0-0 draw and that was a creditable result, all things considered.

I will avoid the subject of Fat Sam Allardyce's remarks concerning us and our manager for the moment because my blood pressure is nicely low and I want to keep it that way.

And so March 3 saw the visit of Peterborough United to Selhurst and our owners had seen fit to make the occasion a special family day with cut-price admission for youngsters.

In my new perch in the Arthur Wait I was stunned to see the number of kids whose parents had taken advantage of the cheap prices. The gate of 18,559 testifies to the popularity of CPFC2010's policy.

Where normally the Arthur seems to be one of the least populated areas of the stadium, it was crammed to the gunwhales and instead of the customary rows of empty seats there was instead a seething mass of humanity, many of them kids possibly at their first live game.

I have a slight issue with stuffing football grounds full of spectators on cheap offers. I know it's a selfish point of view, but as a lifelong sufferer from claustrophobia (I suppose being a claustrophobic football supporter is rather like being an alcoholic pub landlord - a difficult and uncomfortable position), packed crowds of people give me the severe willies which is why I like where I sit in the Arthur.

Thus, having thousands of small human beings under my feet and jumping about on all sides of me, did not fill this curmudgeon's heart brimful with joy.

But as far as the future of the club is concerned it makes a great deal of sense to try and follow the Jesuit path and catch 'em young so they come back as paying customers later.

So, if the family day approach is good for CPFC then it's all right by me and I'll grit my teeth and smile at the little darlings again on the next occasion.

And the game itself was certainly good for CPFC.

After a somewhat sluggish first half where nothing seemed to work out as intended and the Posh played some good incisive football, there wasn't too much to get excited about. Our newly capped under-21 international, Wilfried Zaha, looked sharp and clever as usual and the visitors had to use two defenders to keep tabs on him.

In contrast to the Hammers game the previous week, we really came into our own in the second period and intense pressure paid off when a tap-in from Mile Jedinak won the game for us although it looked as though we might score at least one more as the game headed towards full time.

I suppose people will start talking about the play-offs and a possible promotion again now.

Yes, the play-offs make for an exciting end to the season but for the moment I think we are in the right niche. The last time we looked comfortable in the top division was in the early '90s - before the huge chasm had opened up between the elite few at the top and the desperate strugglers at the foot of the league.

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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