November 11 2007

Selhurst Park

The Hoops came with all guns blazing but only departed with a point, reports Jamesey.

Boring it certainly wasn't.

Fortunately for CPFC, keeper Julian Speroni chose Nov 10 to have a day of inspired near-genius and despite the continued bombardment of the away team, the game finished 1-1.

I have to admit that when Hoops loanee Scott Sinclair's goal came at the cusp of half-time, I was beginning to rack my memory as to the last time we had lost three home games on the spin.

Incidentally, I still haven't personally seen Palace win a match since last April.

Anyway, QPR are very much on the up at the moment.

They filled the away section, roared their team on and even have wealthy, new owners and a new manager from sunny Italy to boot.

I, for one, don't begrudge them their magic moments for a minute.

Like us, they have had their brushes with administration and, worse than us, have recently been relegated to the third tier of the league.

But I have always enjoyed my trips to Loftus Road over the decades and vividly remember seeing the Astroturf farce in the 80s, where the ball was bouncing too high for basketball players, never mind footballers.

The Hoops have always reminded me of a west London version of ourselves to be honest - a small, friendly, family club who, like us, have occasionally made it to the top level but always struggled to stay there.

So our first home point under Neil Warnock was achieved with more than a good measure of luck, but that's not a commodity too much in evidence at Selhurst in recent times.

By the way, during the game I was introduced to John Bostock's father who was sitting in front of me.

But I really couldn't think of anything interesting to ask him (what brand of rusks does the child eat?). And I still can't.

And later, back in my local pub, who should pop up on screen but Shefki Kuqi, playing for Fulham at Anfield.

It was intriguing to see him playing in the same game with such exalted superstars as Stephen Gerrard.

It reminded me that he came to us from a Premiership club despite all appearances to the contrary.

Well, I don't suppose we'll ever see him in a Palace shirt again and a good job too, many might say!

Email Jamesey with your comments to Jevans3704@aol.com

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