April 2 2017

Relentless attacks from Chelsea but the Palace defence held firm after the only Blues goal

Jamesey headed for Stamford Bridge with some trepidation. But left the ground walking on air after a 2-1 victory.

What a day, what a result, what a performance from the Palace team.

I can say in all honesty that this supporter wasn't expecting a great deal from a visit to the Bridge to play high-flying league leaders Chelsea.

A 0-0 draw would have been amazing and I'm pretty sure Sam and the boys would gladly have taken that initially.

Anyhow before I give my own reflections on the match, can I say that a trip to the Fulham Road always brings strong pangs of nostalgia for me.

As a Croydon kid in the 1950s I used to catch the green Southern Electric train to Victoria, then the underground to Fulham Broadway to watch Chelsea.

In those distant days the ground had a dog-track for greyhound racing round the pitch and the players seemed miles away, like matchstick men in a Lowry painting.

Even so Chelsea were a top team with several England international players and I even saw the legendary Sir Stanley Matthews play there (never kept a diary so can't remember if it was for Stoke or Blackpool).

My last visit was in 2005 when we were under the guidance of Iain 'Bouncebackability" Dowie for one season in the Pilesodosh League. We lost 4-1, with Chelsea's Frank Lampard star of the show although that great character Aki (Aki Riihilahti) scored our goal.

Anyway, back to more recent times.

The game was, of course, very much a matter of hot favourites versus relegation underdogs (although not quite so "underdoggish" as a few weeks ago after three wins on the trot).

My own seat was in the Shed Lower Tier. That and the Upper Tier are where visiting supporters are housed these days although in the bad old days, the Shed was a notorious haven for Chelsea hooligan gangs who did their utmost to ruin the game. Thankfully they were unsuccessful.

And so the scene was set. The Eagles ran out in the attractive yellow away strip with red-and-blue sash.

After 5 minutes, Cesc Fabregas clipped a lovely shot in off the post before our very eyes and the Blues were one up. Our hearts sunk and we hoped this wasn't the start of a right thumping.

Within a mere 4 minutes, Wilfried Zaha scored a magnificent goal at the other end, bamboozling three Chelsea defenders and the 'keeper.

And even better was to come when only 2 minutes later Christian Benteke found himself all clear, fooled Courtois with a feint and chipped the ball over him. Almost miraculously Palace were in the lead 2-1 against the Stacksomoulah giants.

Above me in the Upper Tier we could see and hear smoke flares going off. Very ill-advised behaviour from Eagles supporters and one has to wonder how they were smuggled in through the airport-like security surrounding the Bridge.

Despite our joy, after a mere 11 minutes we were facing a veritable Everest to climb. It was a long haul to the final whistle and Chelsea hadn't lost at home since last September.

The bombardment of the Eagles' goal started in earnest with near misses galore and inspired goalkeeping from Wayne Hennessey whose name was to be chanted for the first time at a match in my own experience

It is probably unfair to single out any Palace player in particular after such a magnificent all-round effort but the man looking like the best decision of Sam Allardyce's January imports, Mamadou Sakho, once more kept the blue fusillades at bay.

Having said that, only a touch from Courtois stopped a superb effort from Wilf making it three for the Eagles in the second period.

As always happens when you just want a game to finish, there were 7 minutes of added time mostly due to an injury to substitute Scott Dann.

The Eagles contingent endured what seemed like the longest 7 minutes in history but still the yellow shield kept the Blues at bay.

Later on even the crabby TV pundit, Alan Shearer, grudgingly admitted on MOTD that Wilf has now gone up into a new dimension as a footballer and that's really something coming from him. Regrettably, staying up or going down, the prospects of hanging on to Wilf next season don't look good.

Many who were there will possibly remember this as one of the greatest and most exciting Palace games they have ever witnessed. This veteran supporter would totally go along with that view.

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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