May 11 2015

Glenn Murray runs at the United goal in the second half but his luck was out.

It was, of course, a full house of 25,000-plus when Man Utd came to Selhurst Park. Jamesey squashed himself in.

Chelsea away (May 3) and Manchester United at home (May 9) in consecutive weeks. Phew...

It is extremely pleasant to be basking in the big time again and the fact that this writer was annoyed that Palace were unfortunate to get zero out of either game demonstrates perhaps how far the club has come in the past couple of seasons.

Lets face it, at certain times in CPFC history, we would have been relieved to escape without being on the end of two thorough thrashings.

Be that as it may, Chelsea had to rely on a dubious Eden Hazard penalty for their title-winning victory and the Eagles were certainly no pushover.

The Man U game took place on a Saturday evening, largely for the benefit of the TV audience which is the priority profit source in the Bagsodosh League.

There seemed to be a large element of Scandinavian speakers in the streets heading towards the ground, so much so that I could almost imagine myself in a new TV "Wallander" series. Perhaps Nordic tour operators are offering package deals that include visits to Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London and Selhurst Park? Who knows how they get hold of tickets for a sell-out match like that?

The manager had chosen to start with our tried and trusted three-prong assault unit of Wilfried Zaha, Yannick Bolasie and Glenn Murray. This supporter was delighted to see a strong midfield comprised of Mile Jedinak, Joe Ledley and the magnificent James McArthur, with a fairly standard four-man defence.

It was pretty well even stevens, until a decisive moment in the 19th minute. Scott Dann was adjudged to have handled in the area and Juan Mata slotted home the penalty.

It seemed to me at the time that Dann had slightly misjudged an effort to chest the ball and there was no intent to handle the ball whatsoever. Having seen the slo-mo pictures and listened to the pontifications of the Match of the Day pundits I saw absolutely no reason to change my original impressions. The ball didn't touch his hand or arm. Perhaps I need new specs? But I've only just bought new specs.

Jason Puncheon came on in the second half to considerable effect. Twelve minutes into part two, Punch sent a clever free kick which took a slight deflection off the bonce of Daley Blind in the Reds' wall and bingo - it was one all.

Eagles celebrations were regrettably premature. David De Gea who seems to grow more masterly every month for United chose to have a keeper's dream day, saving several times in what seemed almost cast-iron goals, in particular a Murray flick.

Unfortunately, as if in defiance of the Palace booing which greeted his every touch of the ball, Ashley Young had a superb game for the Mancunians and it was his cross which was gratefully accepted by Marouane Fellaini to make it 1-2 and a win for the northerners.

So there it was, four defeats in a row and a rather limp ending for an excellent season which has seen us book a place in the Heapsomoulah League for a third year (only impossible maths could alter that).

It's a crying shame that CPFC's philanthropic gestures in those games couldn't be rewarded with appreciations from the beneficiaries.

Three points each for West Bromwich Albion and Hull City have been invaluable for them in their struggle to stay in the top tier.

We provided Chelsea with the league title which was certainly coming anyway but it was decent of us to let them celebrate at home with their supporters.

And finally Manchester United have now almost certainly gained the priceless fourth place to provide them with Champions League participation next season.

The amounts of financial gain for the four clubs involved are mind-boggling so it seems only fair that Palace, as providers to a greater or lesser degree, should share in the gains.

The legal implications of match-fixing are risky, but appreciation might be expressed in brown paper bags clearly marked "Selhurst Park Expansion and Modernisation Fund, CPFC2010".

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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