Game Forty Four - Crystal Palace away (FA Cup 3rd Round Reply)

14 January 2009

When I signed up to do the 100% attendance this season, there were certain things that I didn't bank on. Yeovil away being moved to a monday night? Brighton away on a tuesday night? TWO midweek trips to Hartlepool? All possible and kind of exciting in a strange backwards way but when Crystal Palace away in a 3rd round cup replay on a cold Wednesday night in January came about, the cold sweats started. Famously known to be one of the hardest grounds to get too combined with trying to get time off work at short notice meant that by the time this rolled around, I could really have done without it.

Thanks to work being rather forgiving and understanding, I managed to leave at lunch time and head over to the Walkers Stadium with some slight fog in the air. The train was a realistic option but having already done the trip once in pre-season and after a busy few days in the office, just climbing onto a coach and relaxing appealed and boy did I need some sleep.

As we headed further and further south, the damp and fog grew stronger and at one point there was a real danger it seemed that the game might be called off.

As we stopped though, the weather had cleared slightly and any danger of postponement seemed to have vanished. A quick stop and chat with Lisa over a KFC and we were back on our way to Selhurt Park. Dozing in and out of sleep and with a Peter Kay dvd to entertain us, the journey flew by and we arrived at the ground in good time leaving us plenty of time to head off into Croydon for liquid refreshments. The 'spoons near Thornton Heath tube station was the venue of choice and me, Carl and Lisa stopped off there for a quick one and chat before venturing back towards Selhurst Park.

At the turnstiles, the stewards were out in force and gave us one of the most thorough searches that you're ever likely to get at a football ground. We had to remove keys from pockets, coats had to be opened and every inch of bags were searched. Now I know that the area has had a problem with Knife Crime recentley but anyone travelling all that way on a Wednesday night just to cause trouble needs their head screwing on. An attendance of 6,000 is hardly likely to start a ruck are they?

Inside the ground it wasn't long before the rest of the Foxestalk mob arrived, along with others like Jobber and Jodie and many of us congregated at the front for a change. Front row barmy army!

Two times i've been to Selhurst Park now, and neither time have I managed to actually get into the away end and we've found ourselves put behind the goal.

The teams emerged and Martin took his place in front of the travelling fans as a weakened Leicester side without Fryatt, Davies, Gilbert and Dyer looked to upset the odds against the team from the Championship.

The one thing to cheer us up was knowing that the game couldn't be any worse than the first game which produced only one shot on target of any memory.... or so we thought as with 20 minutes gone, there hadn't been a single effort on goal. Then, something happened that was worse than conceeding. In a routine header, Tunchev landed badly and went down clutching his knee clearly in some pain. A stretcher came on and took him from the pitch and our fears were later confirmed that he would be out of action for months rather than weeks. A bitter blow when everything seemed to be going so well for us. I know that one man doesn't make a team but with Tunchev in our back four, we rarely looked like conceeding goals.

With so little goal mouth action and neither side looking like scoring any time soon, you just had a feeling that it would be a defensive error that would be the difference.... and I was almost right. After 40 minutes, Paul Ifill, cut in and hit a shot which deflected off King's outstretched foot and diverted past the dive of Martin. A cruel way to fall behind but sometimes when you're the underdogs, you don't have the luck.

The goal did set up some quality banter with the people in the boxes behind us. As it's generally a home stand, the executive boxes are situated on the tier above us with the fans hanging over to watch the game. One "gent" took it upon himself to try and wind up the 1500 away fans and was prompty put in his place by the visitors and the stewards.... it came as great amusement when he didn't emerge from his box for the second half!

To sum up the first half can only be done by one mans facial expressions:

And so to the second half, surely that couldn't be any worse could it? And then it did.... on 54 minutes, out of nowhere Palace doubled the lead. A ball was played down the wing to the onrushing Scannell. He soon outpaced the defence and from our position, he seemed like he had no chance of doing anything.... but soon the home fans were up cheering. God knows how but he'd managed to divert the ball past Martin and into the net. Game over pretty much.

With that second goal though, we seemed to wake up slightly and started to look more like a team. Dickov came close after a great turn with the ball but prodded wide, but the moment that turned the game slightly was the introduction of Ashley Chambers. The young striker played with no fear and ran at the defence in the way that Maxi Gradel had in the pre-season friendly all those months ago.

Chances started to be created and corners were won as City looked for a way back into the game. Chambers forced Speroni into the save of the game as he fired across the keeper onto to see his shot turned around the post.

And from a Chambers cross, Howard beat Speroni to the ball in the air and Oakley somehow prodded wide with the goal gaping. That was our one chance to get something from the game and we knew it was gone.

In the 94th minute though we did get some consolation, that man again, Ashley Chambers swung in a cross which Maxi Gradel managed to get on the end of and squirm it past Speroni into the corner. It was to be the last kick of the game though and at least we could walk away with our heads held high. No shame in losing at Selhurst Park and the players all came over to appreciate our efforts. We made up 25% of the crowd that night which sums up the change in attitude of the travelling fans now that wins are coming our way.

For the journey home, I was joined by Jodie (Anstehhh) on the coach and a bunch of drunken lads who'd spent the day in the capital.... in fact they even snuck on a bottle of champagne onto the coaches and had gotten through that by the time we had left the Croydon area. The rest of the journey home was spent singing and keeping everyone else awake with running between ends of the coaches and even getting a conga going at one point - was a classic journey... until I realised I had work in the morning and needed sleep!! D'oh!

Arrived home to the Walkers at about 1am and made my way into the deserted city centre to find a taxi to perform the final leg of my journey and was tucked up in bed nicely by 2... not to bad all things considering!

And so from never having been to Selhurst Park at the start of this blog, I've now made it twice in the space of a few months. Both times have brought about some memorable moments and while I don't share the excitement of some others about going to the ground, it certainly has something about it.... As for the magic of the FA Cup... the 3rd round failed to produce any this year and is proving quite the hurdle for us to overcome having not reached the 4th round now since that famous night against Spurs at the Walkers Stadium - a game that to this day remains as one of my fondest memories of Leicester City. It's still a brilliant competition though and I enjoyed the first two rounds so it hasn't been a complete waste by any stretch (although lets start at the 3rd next season please!!)