Thimble Keegan
Remy LeBeau
I honestly do not think that my mere match report can do any justice to what was witnessed last night...But I will try.
It had the usual ingredients a game against your biggest rivals should have: Hard fought with a cracking atmosphere and plenty of passion...Well from us anyway. The Crystal Palace players had no fight in them and their fans were strangely subdude. This was in stark contrast to our last visit to Selhurst Park when both Palace fans and players alike were bang up for the game.
The Albion took to the pitch in the bloody awful white kit that had been knocked up especially for the game. Why they could not have re-registered the yellow shirts for this one off I do not know.
Regardless of the kit this has to be the most complete performance we have turned in this season. Even when we were turning on the attacking style against Plymouth Argyle, Leeds United, etc we were still looking suspect at the back. Last night though, the defence looked solid, there was a real steely determination about the middle of the of the park and when we went forward it was often thoughtfull and incisive. Granted, our raids forward were not quite as good as the early season form but both Leon Knight and Jake Robinson covered so much ground it was unbelievable.
We avoided the nightmare of the previous visit to Palace of being out of the game with 10 minutes by stamping our authority on the fixture very early on. This was all due to our midfield getting stuck in and bossing the game, with praise going to one man in particular...Step forward Charlie Oatway.
Oatway has come in for some criticism recently and to an extent it is justified, if a little harshly delivered. Charlie knows he is playing above his level but his committment to the team and this club in general cannot be faulted. Also, when Mark McGhee picks him in the team he is hardly going to stand up and say: "Sorry, gaffer, I am not good enough for this Championship football, I do not want to play". When Oatway has a 'mare he deserves stick from the fans who pay their money but I believe the way the fans go over top is not fair and when it got to the witch-hunt proportions as it did after Norwich City was just plain daft. What helped him yesterday was that the game was never going to be awash with cultured football as a tough battle was always going to be the nature of the contest. So much so even leading up to this game I was saying I wanted Charlie to play. I wanted him out there stalking Selhurst Park and hoofing every Eagles player up into the air. I wanted someone who would sweat blood and draw blood...Oatway was that man. He fought for every ball single ball and epitomised everything that was good about our performance.
The sheer forcefulness of the way we started the game rocked Palace. The wind was well and truly put up them and they were a mess. Their showing was on par with our own when we made our last outing to SE25 and if I was an Eagles fan I would have been doing my nut. They were crap. They showed only flashes of decent play and their passing was not fitting of a team in the top 5 of the Championship, in fact I lost count of how many stray passes drifted out of play. When they did manage to string enough passes together to get forward they found our defence in excellent form.
With Richard Carpenter and the aforementioned Oatway bossing the game in the middle we achieved the sort of start to the game that has been missing in recent weeks. This surely must have pleased McGhee. By getting a grip on the game early this allowed us to dictate the game. So going forward we were far more effective. Knight and Robinson ran themselves sick as they chased down every defender giving them no peace. Equally pleasing was the return to form of Sebastien Carole who was not at his best last Saturday. Carole showed the class he has with some quite exquisite long passes and some skillfull running. The movement of the Albion attack was pulling the Palace players all over the place and we were getting in great positions and exerting pressure. I was even convinced Jake was tripped in the area for a penalty.
But the Selhurst Park outfit still managed to actually carve out an opening. Irishman Clinton Morrison played in Micheal Hughes and he had a clear shot at goal. But Wayne Henderson came out, made himself big and blocked the attempt.
Had Hughes put that away it would have been harsh for all the domination of proceeding we had up to the that point. But although Micheal's chance had been the clearest up to that point we were soon to have an equally glorious opportunity to take the lead. A lovely little ball from Carole saw Leon steam clear with just Gabor Kiraly in the Palace goal to beat. As went into the area Knight chipped the ball over the 'keeper but sadly too much was on it and it carried on rising and went over the bar and into the Holmesdale End.
If any further proof was needed that we were battling for everything was when Chippie was involved in a clash which required a bandage and strangely enough, a complete change of kit. Carpenter soldiered on with a heavily bandaged head but did not last long as he was replaced with Alexandre Frutos. This prompted Dean Hammond to move into the centre to partner Charlie and Frutos took up the left wing position. If the home support thought this change might have upset out game then they were sadly mistaken. It was a smooth transition and we carried on in the same vein for the remainder of the match.
Alexandre was hardly on for long when he was soon in the thick of the action when he had a shot well saved by Kiraly.
We continued to govern the game as the half-time interval approached and really should have gone in 1-up especially with 2 decent chances to notch a goal. First Knight surprised Emerson Boyce and managed to nick the ball away from him and set off for goal. With options either side of him in the form of Sebastien and Carole he made space for himself and hit a low drive which Gabor pushed behind for a corner. The resulting corner was cleared but we still had the ball following good work from Carole again Jake was presented with the ball in the Palace penalty area. It appeared that the ball was stuck under Robinson's feet and when he managed to dig it out and shoot he put it over the bar. Palace had another let off and we went into half-time all square.
The second half got underway in rather amusing circumstances. The Holesmdale End goalmouth was littered with coloured card from the Palace fans crap card display at the start of the game. This prompted the referee to stop play whilst Morrison, Henderson and some fat stewards cleared up. This inevitably lead to them launching more paper aeroplanes pitch-ward and even lobbed a bottle at Wayne.
With the game back on it appeared the Eagles handsome manager Iain Dowie has given his players a bollocking at half-time. But the only players who appeared to take any notice of this was his defenders. There was a marked improvement in them and they did work hard to stop us when we launched attacks. This limited our chances somewhat but Carole still worked an opening for him to shoot only for Fitz Hall to block his attempt.
Maybe it was not just the Palace defenders who took on board the Dowie roasting as Jobi McAnuff looked a lot more lively. It was his unchallenged run and shot that was far to close for comfort mid-way through the second-half.
Despite having the upper hand we were now pretty much cancelling each other out when 77 minutes was registered on the clock. Good work between Hammond and Tooty down the left saw the ball come over to Leon in the area. He was all on his own with what looked like loads of time on his hands. Annoyingly the ball seemed to take an age to come down before he got his shot away that just shaved the post. The ref, though signalled for a corner so it must have taken a deflection. The following corner came over and Paul McShane and Boyce went up for the challenge. McShane must have won it because it not only went goalwards but went in...Cue pandamonium in the away end.
One of fans was thrown out by the stewards/police as I can only imagine he tried to get on the pitch. As he was lead away the Palace fans came charging down to hurl abuse, our lads did the same and the riot police came in to make sure there was no fisticuffs. We were then treated to the comical sight of a fat Palace fan lumbering onto the pitch in front of us all but he was soon (quite literally) jumped on by the stewards.
Our goal pushed the Eagles into action but left spaces at the back which I think we really should have exploited. Palace naturally piled on some pressure but Henderson only had a couple of simple gatherings to make. That was until it was real heart-in-mouth time. With time pretty much up an Eagles player had a low shot which Wayne saved only for the ball to be pushed out to Clinton following up. The linesman's flag went straight up signalling off-side but Morrison still stabbed the ball home and Selhurst Park erupted. Eventually it all dawned on them (and us) that the goal would not stand and more piss-taking was directed at the hapless home support.
The referee then finally ended the game to the jubilation of the away end.
Hopefully, this will be the last we see of those 5-0 flags.
Just think, we have not got long to wait to complete the double over them.
Albion & England forever.
Thimble Keegan.
Worthing BHA
It had the usual ingredients a game against your biggest rivals should have: Hard fought with a cracking atmosphere and plenty of passion...Well from us anyway. The Crystal Palace players had no fight in them and their fans were strangely subdude. This was in stark contrast to our last visit to Selhurst Park when both Palace fans and players alike were bang up for the game.
The Albion took to the pitch in the bloody awful white kit that had been knocked up especially for the game. Why they could not have re-registered the yellow shirts for this one off I do not know.
Regardless of the kit this has to be the most complete performance we have turned in this season. Even when we were turning on the attacking style against Plymouth Argyle, Leeds United, etc we were still looking suspect at the back. Last night though, the defence looked solid, there was a real steely determination about the middle of the of the park and when we went forward it was often thoughtfull and incisive. Granted, our raids forward were not quite as good as the early season form but both Leon Knight and Jake Robinson covered so much ground it was unbelievable.
We avoided the nightmare of the previous visit to Palace of being out of the game with 10 minutes by stamping our authority on the fixture very early on. This was all due to our midfield getting stuck in and bossing the game, with praise going to one man in particular...Step forward Charlie Oatway.
Oatway has come in for some criticism recently and to an extent it is justified, if a little harshly delivered. Charlie knows he is playing above his level but his committment to the team and this club in general cannot be faulted. Also, when Mark McGhee picks him in the team he is hardly going to stand up and say: "Sorry, gaffer, I am not good enough for this Championship football, I do not want to play". When Oatway has a 'mare he deserves stick from the fans who pay their money but I believe the way the fans go over top is not fair and when it got to the witch-hunt proportions as it did after Norwich City was just plain daft. What helped him yesterday was that the game was never going to be awash with cultured football as a tough battle was always going to be the nature of the contest. So much so even leading up to this game I was saying I wanted Charlie to play. I wanted him out there stalking Selhurst Park and hoofing every Eagles player up into the air. I wanted someone who would sweat blood and draw blood...Oatway was that man. He fought for every ball single ball and epitomised everything that was good about our performance.
The sheer forcefulness of the way we started the game rocked Palace. The wind was well and truly put up them and they were a mess. Their showing was on par with our own when we made our last outing to SE25 and if I was an Eagles fan I would have been doing my nut. They were crap. They showed only flashes of decent play and their passing was not fitting of a team in the top 5 of the Championship, in fact I lost count of how many stray passes drifted out of play. When they did manage to string enough passes together to get forward they found our defence in excellent form.
With Richard Carpenter and the aforementioned Oatway bossing the game in the middle we achieved the sort of start to the game that has been missing in recent weeks. This surely must have pleased McGhee. By getting a grip on the game early this allowed us to dictate the game. So going forward we were far more effective. Knight and Robinson ran themselves sick as they chased down every defender giving them no peace. Equally pleasing was the return to form of Sebastien Carole who was not at his best last Saturday. Carole showed the class he has with some quite exquisite long passes and some skillfull running. The movement of the Albion attack was pulling the Palace players all over the place and we were getting in great positions and exerting pressure. I was even convinced Jake was tripped in the area for a penalty.
But the Selhurst Park outfit still managed to actually carve out an opening. Irishman Clinton Morrison played in Micheal Hughes and he had a clear shot at goal. But Wayne Henderson came out, made himself big and blocked the attempt.
Had Hughes put that away it would have been harsh for all the domination of proceeding we had up to the that point. But although Micheal's chance had been the clearest up to that point we were soon to have an equally glorious opportunity to take the lead. A lovely little ball from Carole saw Leon steam clear with just Gabor Kiraly in the Palace goal to beat. As went into the area Knight chipped the ball over the 'keeper but sadly too much was on it and it carried on rising and went over the bar and into the Holmesdale End.
If any further proof was needed that we were battling for everything was when Chippie was involved in a clash which required a bandage and strangely enough, a complete change of kit. Carpenter soldiered on with a heavily bandaged head but did not last long as he was replaced with Alexandre Frutos. This prompted Dean Hammond to move into the centre to partner Charlie and Frutos took up the left wing position. If the home support thought this change might have upset out game then they were sadly mistaken. It was a smooth transition and we carried on in the same vein for the remainder of the match.
Alexandre was hardly on for long when he was soon in the thick of the action when he had a shot well saved by Kiraly.
We continued to govern the game as the half-time interval approached and really should have gone in 1-up especially with 2 decent chances to notch a goal. First Knight surprised Emerson Boyce and managed to nick the ball away from him and set off for goal. With options either side of him in the form of Sebastien and Carole he made space for himself and hit a low drive which Gabor pushed behind for a corner. The resulting corner was cleared but we still had the ball following good work from Carole again Jake was presented with the ball in the Palace penalty area. It appeared that the ball was stuck under Robinson's feet and when he managed to dig it out and shoot he put it over the bar. Palace had another let off and we went into half-time all square.
The second half got underway in rather amusing circumstances. The Holesmdale End goalmouth was littered with coloured card from the Palace fans crap card display at the start of the game. This prompted the referee to stop play whilst Morrison, Henderson and some fat stewards cleared up. This inevitably lead to them launching more paper aeroplanes pitch-ward and even lobbed a bottle at Wayne.
With the game back on it appeared the Eagles handsome manager Iain Dowie has given his players a bollocking at half-time. But the only players who appeared to take any notice of this was his defenders. There was a marked improvement in them and they did work hard to stop us when we launched attacks. This limited our chances somewhat but Carole still worked an opening for him to shoot only for Fitz Hall to block his attempt.
Maybe it was not just the Palace defenders who took on board the Dowie roasting as Jobi McAnuff looked a lot more lively. It was his unchallenged run and shot that was far to close for comfort mid-way through the second-half.
Despite having the upper hand we were now pretty much cancelling each other out when 77 minutes was registered on the clock. Good work between Hammond and Tooty down the left saw the ball come over to Leon in the area. He was all on his own with what looked like loads of time on his hands. Annoyingly the ball seemed to take an age to come down before he got his shot away that just shaved the post. The ref, though signalled for a corner so it must have taken a deflection. The following corner came over and Paul McShane and Boyce went up for the challenge. McShane must have won it because it not only went goalwards but went in...Cue pandamonium in the away end.
One of fans was thrown out by the stewards/police as I can only imagine he tried to get on the pitch. As he was lead away the Palace fans came charging down to hurl abuse, our lads did the same and the riot police came in to make sure there was no fisticuffs. We were then treated to the comical sight of a fat Palace fan lumbering onto the pitch in front of us all but he was soon (quite literally) jumped on by the stewards.
Our goal pushed the Eagles into action but left spaces at the back which I think we really should have exploited. Palace naturally piled on some pressure but Henderson only had a couple of simple gatherings to make. That was until it was real heart-in-mouth time. With time pretty much up an Eagles player had a low shot which Wayne saved only for the ball to be pushed out to Clinton following up. The linesman's flag went straight up signalling off-side but Morrison still stabbed the ball home and Selhurst Park erupted. Eventually it all dawned on them (and us) that the goal would not stand and more piss-taking was directed at the hapless home support.
The referee then finally ended the game to the jubilation of the away end.
Hopefully, this will be the last we see of those 5-0 flags.
Just think, we have not got long to wait to complete the double over them.
Albion & England forever.
Thimble Keegan.
Worthing BHA
