February 15 2015

The HF banner asks the question. The answer would on this occasion, of course, be Fraizer Campbell

Yes folks, it was Liverpool again, Round Five of the FA Cup and a juicy home draw for Crystal Palace. Jamesey joined the throng to witness a 1-2 defeat from a star-studded Scouse line-up.

I've always had a strong aversion to blatant triumphalism. Football supporters never appear to learn that a bitten backside is what you often get when you celebrate too soon.

How often do those chants of "one nil, one nil" result in a quick equaliser? Or cries of "Palace reject" just invite the so-called player to score?

Anyhow when I bought my match programme for our Liverpool cup tie (Feb 14) I was less than delighted to see that nestling inside was a replica programme for that famous occasion in April 1990 when the Scousers were booted out of the Cup semi-final at Villa Park.

The score of 4-3 to the Palace was an extremely unlikely result but there it was. We were on our way to Wembley and current boss Alan Pardew netted the winner.

And the fact that we had been stuffed 9-0 at Anfield only a few months previously made it all the sweeter.

As a life-long Eagles supporter, enjoying those moments is one thing but printing a special programme to gloat over the whole thing just seems to be courting misfortune, especially when our opponents are looking like one of Europe's best teams again.

After a barnstorming January, Alan Pardew's outfit have been faltering somewhat.

We all knew that you can't win 'em all but many Palace fans were, in my opinion, beginning to display folie de grandeur (or getting things arse about face, as we might alternatively say in Fort Neef).

A league 0-1 loss against a poor and out-of-form Everton and, despite a 1-0 win against bottom-placed Leicester the following week, brought a whiff of reality to the Selhurst atmosphere.

We all hoped for a victory in another home league match against our manager's former club, Newcastle, but that ended in a tame 1-1 draw.

The reality was that this season is about staying in the Premier League, now hugely enriched even more by TV money. Forgive me for stating the obvious but scoring points against small and struggling rivals is far more important than hoping for glory against the glamour merchants at the top.

As for the game itself, Liverpool certainly weren't messing about for this one.

Park Road was bulging with away coaches and the noise emanating from the opposition area rivalled the joint Arthur and Holmesdale in volume - quite unusual in recent times.

And Brendan Rodgers certainly wasn't resting any big names with Coutinho, Lallana, Sturridge and Henderson all starting with that Great Enigma Balotelli brought on from the bench.

Nevertheless it was first blood to the Eagles with a well taken striker's effort from Fraizer Campbell after a rebound from Mignolet.

We began to think that a victory was possible despite the relentless pressure from the Reds but the equaliser came early in the second period with a clever move finished off by Sturridge. It wasn't long before Lallana sealed the Reds' win with another one after Julian Speroni could only parry a forceful Balotelli free kick.

Afterwards, Palace boss Alan Pardew could only admit that the best team had won and you would have had to have been a colossal liar or visually impaired to claim otherwise.

One hopes that Pards will continue to tell it like it is because it is infuriating to hear ridiculous excuses being made after a loss and praise being lavished on a team that had been hopelessly outplayed. Neil Warnock was the archetypal apologist although referees were usually nominated as the villains of the piece.

Next home league game is against Arsenal. I can hardly think that many Eagles supporters would complain about a point for that one. Mind you, three points would be very heaven.

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