December 4 2016

Townsend, Puncheon and Benteke on the attack in the 3-0 victory.

It was a tense day in SE25 as the Eagles faced the daunting prospect of seven defeats in a row. Jamesey hoped for the best...and got his wish.

The media have been full of gloating reports of the possible dismissal of manager Alan Pardew all week, with Obese Sam waiting in the wings to save our bacon sandwich.

My train from Clapham Junction was crammed with Saints supporters who, judging by their vociferous comments, believed they were heading for a surefire win over a struggling side (Dec 3).

How disappointed they would eventually be, I am overjoyed to say. That is not to say I personally have any issues with the south coast club. A victory over anyone would have been manna from heaven.

An impartial observer would have been hard put to detect any signs of disquiet from the usual near-capacity crowd (25,393).

Glad All Over was sung as lustily as ever, the team was cheered on the pitch and there were no "Pardew-out" chants that I could detect.

My own belief is that Steve Parish would have persuaded his co-directors and his American financiers to give the manager until the end of the year when the situation could still be just about retrievable.

In the event, of course, the game ended in a 3-0 victory, so for the moment, such talk is merely academic and that, as Pards' managerial career is peppered with winning and losing streaks, the Saints result might herald the start of a former one.

It was evident from the start that as far as tightening up Palace's porous defence, much more than talking the talk had been worked upon.

The Saints found themselves being closed down speedily, none more keenly than by Christian Benteke who ran his heart out all over the field.

In my view one of the weakest links, Martin Kelly, had been rightfully demoted to the bench and the back four benefited from the inclusion of Damien Delaney.

England boss, Gareth Southgate, was at the game and we were later told he intended to try and persuade Wilfried Zaha to still make himself available for England rather than his birthplace, Ivory Coast.

Wilf didn't have one of his better games and a few times resorted to trying to dribble past a player too many. Nevertheless he surely must have done enough to convince Gareth that he had lost none of his sparkling ability.

The Saints keeper and sometime England choice, Fraser Forster, must have been less than pleased at the presence of the England manager after his dreadful scuffle in the 33rd minute gifted Christian Benteke with a tap-in. First blood to the Eagles.

The red-and-blue delight had scarcely faded when in the 36th minute a Joe Ledley flick-on was banged in from a couple of yards by James Tomkins who also had a superb all-round game.

We didn't even dare think about the shambles at Swansea in the previous match. We couldn't possibly go and concede three goals before half-time, could we? We certainly couldn't with this Eagles team looking much tougher and better-organised.

Palace defended just as robustly in the second period and I here must point out one of the most excellently named players in the entire league - Southampton's Virgil van Dijk.

The football game is privileged to include this Dutch defender whose name is a homage to the great Roman poet and one of the finest 17th century Netherlandish painters.

Anyhow cultured monickers or not, it didn't stop the Saints defence from conceding a third a few minutes from the end.

Jason Puncheon, who had occasionally been guilty of unforced errors and giving the ball away, redeemed himself by providing a cross for Benteke to score his second, and the Eagles' third, goal.

And so it ended with a rare clean sheet and a 3-0 victory, with some lucky breaks but it was about time.

TV footage showed Mr Parish bearing a smile that would have outshone the proverbial Cheshire Cat. His team had put a little elevation from the drop zone and his loyalty and patience to his manager had paid off - for now anyway.

A visit to Hull next week will reveal whether the performance was a flash in the pan or not.

This commentator thinks that if the team can show the same resilience and toughness from now on, relegation shouldn't be a big worry in 2017.

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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