February 6 2018

Yohan Cabaye runs at the away area closely watched by Newcastle’s goal scorer Mo Diame (No 10)

Almost any game between the Premier League’s bottom 10 is a relegation scrap nowadays and Newcastle’s visit to Selhurst was no exception. Jamesey gives his view from the Arthur.

A wintry Sunday afternoon (Feb 4) at Selhurst was the scene for the visit of Newcastle Utd and the Sky TV cameras.

Toon supporters, many of whom go shirt-sleeved and t-shirted in the direst of weathers are renowned for being impervious to cold, while we southern softies shivered in the biting February wind.

No doubt well fortified by the cup that cheers, they made a big contribution to the noise levels for the 1-1 draw at a ground usually dominated by home voices.

A sporting and affectionate ovation was given to Newcastle forward and Palace Old Boy Dwight Gayle who was allegedly sold for not being good enough for the top league.

A 1-1 away draw at West Ham during the week (Jan 30) was a reasonable result for Palace but home points are crucial with a tough run of games coming up.

Half of the lower league clubs are bunched together and fears of the drop loom large for more chairmen than usual.

Home fans were understandably dismayed when right from kick-off, the visitors cut though the Eagles’ midfield and defence like knives through butter.

It was disagreeably reminiscent of the recent 4-1 Emirates Stadium drubbing (Jan 20) when the Gunners did much the same.

The pressure rewarded the Geordies after 22 minutes when Mo Diame, unmarked, opened the scoring. It was an opportunist effort which Palace star striker, Christian Benteke, given the same chance these days would probably have dislodged the corner flag.

Several opportunities to ramp up the scoreline were spurned by the red-and-blue team when Benteke, alone in front of goal, still managed to miss an almost unmissable chance.

Newcastle probably shaded the first half but CPFC were grateful to reach half-time only a goal down after defending well against a Geordie onslaught.

Talk about a team of two ‘arves…the Eagles woke up for Part II and played like the fans know they can.

In the 55th minute, crowd and players were gob-smacked (possibly too mild a cliche) when Benteke was awarded a penalty for a shirt-tugging offence. Most followers of the game would surely agree that shirt-tugging in the box for corners and set-pieces is pretty well normal in the English game.

So it was a lucky break when the linesman ran towards the action and insisted on a spot-kick which Luka Milivojevic duly despatched although keeper Karl Darlow did get two hands to it.

The rest of the game was Eagles all the way with superiority gradually intensifying.

Wilfried Zaha and Patrick van Aanholt were both superb but regrettably even more chances were squandered.

If the worst comes to the worst in May and, after five seasons, Palace go down, Roy Hodgson’s management has been beyond reproach and after a consistently awful succession of missed scoring opportunities, the players have only themselves to blame.

Interestingly, CPFC’s new Norwegian striker, Alexander Sorloth, was on the bench and it seemed likely that Roy would bring him on at some point to blood him - not literally one hopes - in the ways and wiles of English top tier defences.

But Benteke stayed on the field and despite the mounting tide of Christian-crucifying it is as well to remember that he scored and won a point against the Hammers and created an unlikely penalty to earn a point against the Geordies.

The big Belgian ain’t all bad, let’s face it…

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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