February 18 2013

Man in the mask... Eagles captain Mile Jedinak faces up to Middlesbrough

The Eagles did their promotion push no harm at all with a cracking win against Middlesbrough at Selhurst. Jamesey gives his view.

Like your favourite great aunt, Selhurst Park might be getting rather old, unkempt, tatty and in need of care, but it was a rare honour for her to play hostess to both the England and Wales national team managers when Middlesbrough came to town (Feb 16).

Yes, Roy Hodgson and Chris Coleman (now there's a familiar name; where have I encountered him before?) were among the crowd, almost certainly to check out two of our brightest starlets, Wilfried Zaha and Jon Williams. I know that technically Wilf is a Man U player now and only on loan till May but until then he is a Palace player as far as I am concerned.

Anyway, if the two lads were keen to impress, they did so with a vengeance and performances which couldn't have been bettered in this supporter's eyes.

Not that they were alone in the excellence of their efforts because the entire team and the substitutes turned in a display which has rarely been bettered in my long experience as a Palace supporter.

After our 1-1 draw with Watford (Feb 8) I was daydreaming about playing like we did in the second half for a whole game. And my sentiments had been similar after the Charlton 2-1 victory as well (Feb 2).

And right from the kick-off against Boro, it seemed as if some benevolent old football deity had heard my plea and granted the request.

A good crowd of 17,213 (including about 1000 fans from the north-east) were in attendance to see Palace pummel and threaten the opposition into submission. It only took nine minutes for Glenn Murray to bang one in from a Wilf cross and after that we created chance after chance which somehow just eluded the final touch.

Towards the end of the first half, Boro began to stage a come-back and we all feared that we might pay dearly for all those spurned opportunities.

And it was only a brilliant clearance off the line from Peter Ramage that prevented an equaliser. Had we been looking at a 1-1 scoreline at half time could it have been a different game?

Fortunately we'll never know because we came out all guns blazing at the start of the second half and it was only three minutes before Peter Ramage popped up and made it 2-0. Cries of "Rambo, Rambo" echoed around Selhurst Park.

Just before the hour, who else but Glenn Murray lobbed in a beauty in front of the ecstatic Holmesdale faithful although Boro slightly spoiled the party with a consolation goal.

Never fear, the Old Fox himself, Kevin Phillips, obliged with a goal towards he end of the the game and the proceedings concluded with a very satisfying 4-1 victory, even more enjoyable considering that Boro, like ourselves, are top six promotion contenders.

So, as I write, the Eagles lie fourth in the league table and have another home game against woeful relegation strugglers, Bristol City, on Tuesday evening (Feb 19). A victory, depending, of course, how Watford fare in their away match against the Tractor Boys, could see us creep another place up the ladder.

It was gratifying to hear the club give a mention to our iconic and hirsute programme seller, "Sido" at half time. He has been recovering from illness and was at the game with his family. Best wishes and I hope to see him peddling his wares again soon.

I have been hoping for some form of recognition myself from CPFC for some time now but, like that OBE, it never seems to happen. It could be that casting our co-chairman, Mr Parish, as "Steve Porridge" in my Christmas cinema spoof, "Carry On Up the Palace" a while back, spoiled that possibility.

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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