May 1 2017

The Eagles attack the Burnley goal but it was to no avail.

Palace suffered a very bad day at the office and lost 0-2 at home to Burnley. Jamesey suffered along with them.

In the run-up to the season’s end CPFC faced three games in six days and it was very much a case of the good, the bad and the ugly.

We were exhilarated to put it mildly to visit the home of the Scousers (Apr 23) and return to south London with a 2-1 victory, both goals scored by Liverpool reject Christian Benteke (you just have to chuckle, don’t you?).

We were standing 12th in the league table for the visit of Tottenham Hotspur (Apr 26) to Selhurst. The Eagles played their accustomed style against the top teams — defend and counter-attack.

It was only a late goal from Spurs in-form Scandinavian Christian Eriksen that won the game for them. Star defender Mamadou Sakho had left the field with a serious injury and Palace keeper Wayne Hennessey was caught napping.

It was no disgrace to lose to the nation’s top in-form team and we looked forward to the next home game against Burnley (Apr 29).

The Clarets hadn’t won away all season but we all know what that means at Selhurst, don’t we? Sure enough, the Eagles obliged, not only losing but giving possible fellow relegation candidates a strong lifeline.

Palace started the match firing on all cylinders. Corner after corner was taken at the Sainsbury’s end and it looked as though an aggressive home attack could hardly fail to hit the back of the net before long.

But there were to be echoes of the Leicester match a couple of weeks previously when the Foxes’ Robert Huth nodded in from a long throw-in after only five minutes.

The Clarets’ first attack ended in a goal. Ashley Barnes poked the ball through Hennessey’s legs after only seven minutes while the defence seemed frozen.

To make matters worse some complete idiot chucked a cigarette lighter and injured a celebrating Burnley player at the Holmesdale end. It is totally beyond this supporter why imbeciles like that do such stupid things that could see the club sanctioned and fined.

One can only hope that whoever was responsible is identified and banned for life from any further Selhurst games.

Presumably the shock of the early goal sent the entire red-and-blue team into a trance-like state of ineptitude.

A weakened defence through injury which included Martin Kelly and Damien Delaney appeared incapable of dealing with the Burnley attackers, the midfield was non-existent and Christian Benteke reverted to his stand-around-and-hope mode.

Burnley had smelt blood and for most of the game, all the Eagles could offer was a catalogue of lost possession, inaccurate passing and defensive blunders, culminating in another goal for the visitors in the closing minutes.

If the above seems harsh it must be said that a great shot from Delaney had to draw a world-class save from Tom Heaton and Wilfried Zaha still managed to look dangerous despite being continually fouled inside and outside of the box.

If the next three games produce similar performances it is hard to see where any more points are coming from and let’s hope that we look more like the side that defeated Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool not the 2016 Pardew team that was reincarnated for the Clarets fixture.

Maybe 38 points will keep us up? Maybe not?

Can I end this report by climbing on my soapbox and saying how boring the continual refereeing persecution complex has become.

Clever teams win matches despite officialdom decisions and it is up to canny players to overcome hurdles by avoiding fouls not look for them and expect free kicks and penalties.

Obviously the game of football has changed beyond recognition since this veteran first walked into a ground but the great goal scorers like Jimmy Greaves, Brian Clough and George Best didn’t depend on penalties. They were cleverer and more skilful than their opponents.

Burnley didn’t win the game because of the refereeing. They won because they were far the better team on the day.

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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