August 28 2005

Selhurst Park

Selhurst Park was full of happy Palace supporters late on Saturday afternoon (Aug 27). And Jamesey was no exception

Three trips to Selhurst Park in eight days.

Six league points and a league cup victory in the bank.

You would have to be a terrible old curmudgeon to complain about that, and I am certainly not going to.

In my view, in the three games concerned (Plymouth Argyle, 1-0; Walsall, 3-0; and Stoke City, 2-0), our team looked progressively better each time.

It has to be said that the football was not too brilliant in patches... hush, I said I wouldn't complain!

There was an interesting coincidence that cropped up in the Stoke match, of the sort that makes football such a fascinating pastime.

Two former Palace strikers were on the respective benches. Our prodigal returning son, Clinton Morrison, and Bruce Dyer in the Stoke camp.

They were having ever such a deep chin-wag on the touchline in front of the Main Stand when warming up. Would deeply love to have heard what was said.

Bruce came to Selhurst as a transfer record teenager from Watford in 1994. He departed in 1998 to Barnsley and, after a little travelling, now wears a Potters shirt.

Clinton, of course, is a Selhurst-made article, having come up from our youth team in 1998. He was transferred to Birmingham City in 2002 because he thought it would enhance his career.

I, for one, never held that against him, and by the sound of the reception he got when he ran on the field, my view was shared by many thousands of Eagles fans too.

Clinton certainly influenced the game more than Bruce, linking up as well as we had hoped with Andy Johnson and laying on AJ's second goal with considerable aplomb.

I remember seeing Clinton playing alongside Attilio Lombardo in our 97-98 Premiership season and thinking what a wonderful opportunity it was for a local teenager to learn from one of the game's greatest perfomers.

So there we are. After a shaky start, CPFC is gathering momentum and let's hope the season will unfold to our advantage...

*Could I sincerely thank all the board posters and emailers who responded to my affectionate memoir about Palace supporter, the late Penny Terry. Your kind sentiments will all be passed on to her son, Brian.

Email Jamesey with any of your comments to Jevans3704@aol.com

In Depth Jamesey's Veteran View Index