November 26 2017

Wilf, Andros and Ruben attack the Potters' goal in the first period.

The visit of Stoke City produced a humdrum game but the result was joyful for the Eagles after a 2-1 victory. Jamesey offers his view.

When talk turns to "must-win" games, this supporter's heart sinks. The expression puts too much pressure on a team and almost invites failure.

Nevertheless the home fixture against Stoke City (Nov 26) could certainly be classed as "winnable" and ultimately, of course, it was, thanks to Mama's (Mamadou Sakho) last ditch strike.

On a cold wintry afternoon, it was a scrappy game with occasional flurries of excitement, due more to errors than clever football.

The twin strike force of Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend looked out of sorts. It is asking a lot of two natural wingers to become would-be strikers but with Connor Wickham seemingly permanently injured and the recovering Christian Benteke on the bench, the manager isn't blessed with many alternatives.

The player to catch the eye constantly was Stoke's Xherdan Shaqiri. The diminutive Swiss of Albanian heritage was here, there and everywhere, his speed and skill challenging the Palace defence.

When the Eagles have an off-day they really go for it — passes going astray, hoofed balls presented to Potters players and no visible tactical nous. Stoke dominated possession and even Wilf wasn't his usual self although even a subdued Wilf is always better than average.

The first half drifted to a close and the teams left the field with almost no crowd reaction, most unusual at Selhurst these days.

Roy Hodgson brought on Benteke for the second period and straight away the home team looked more balanced although substituted James McArthur is always missed.

Many of us in the crowd were hoping that a goal would liven up the match but, almost inevitably, the first score came from the Potters' star man, Shaqiri.

A scintillating run and a pin-point shot sent the ball into the corner of Wayne Hennessey's goal only 8 minutes after the re-start. No doubt many of the vociferous anti-Wayne brigade will claim that the Welsh keeper should have done better but it was a cracking goal from whatever one's standpoint.

Nevertheless, Palace gloom was dispelled a mere three minutes later when Ruben Loftus-Cheek broke his duck for Palace, sliding it in from a Townsend cross.

Embed from Getty Images

If this was to be another draw, nobody could say Palace deserved more on this occasion.

Then came the magical moment in time added-on when a red-and-blue hero of the day won the game for the Eagles. Mamadou Sakho, lurking in the box, banged it in after Yohan Cabaye's shot rebounded off the post at a fortuitously inviting angle.

Embed from Getty Images

At last it was a stroke of luck for CPFC.

Roy Hodgson, who is gradually winning the respect and admiration of the fans, made his post-match, ever-balanced summary, declaring that it was ironic that after two or three games when we more deserved more, we won a game where in all honesty we deserved less.

At time of writing we are still bottom of the table but not quite as bottom as we had been. If that doesn't make much sense, you know what I mean.

It will be an interesting trip down to the south coast on Tuesday evening (Nov 28) so let's hope that Lady Luck and better football are the order of the day for the Brighton encounter.

Now all we have to do is repeat the Potters victory 10 or 11 times and we will be playing Chelsea and Man City again next season. No worries?

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

In Depth Jamesey's Veteran View Index