October 8 2012

WC Fields likes children - fried

The Eagles have had a wonderful phase recently although initially it looked like coming to an end in our home game against Burnley, reports Jamesey.

Things were certainly bustling at Selhurst Park for our match against the Clarets (Oct 6). A 20,000-plus gate seemed to fill the stadium. Where were the 5,000 or so empty seats?

Even in the usually tranquil and not exactly overpopulated area of central Block W of the Arfur, where your scribe seats himself these days, the ultra-cheap Family Day ticket offer for kids meant the place was heaving with the little blighters.

I have an ambivalent attitude to being surrounded by children in my old age and adhere to the WC Fields philosophy as regards the younger generation. When asked about his feelings towards them, the legendary WC was reported to have said: "I like children - fried..."

Nevertheless I have to admit that from a marketing point of view, the Jesuit tactic of getting 'em young makes a lot of sense for our club.

Even toddlers with an attention span of about 30 seconds might well come back in later life after witnessing a little of an exciting and entertaining victory like the Eagles 4-3 result against Burnley.

Just like the home Cardiff game (Sept 22), where the Eagles came back from a 0-2 deficit to win the match 3-2, things looked pretty grim at the start.

Palace, although looking the better side, conceded two goals in the first half hour and just like the Cardiff fixture, faced the daunting prospect of having to score three to win.

Well, the Eagles didn't do that. No, they scored four and, despite making us squirm for the final stage of the game by conceding in the 81st minute, they held out.

Job done.

Although I rarely go to away games these days I was delighted to listen to two astonishing CPFC away performances on Palace Player. The matches, sandwiched between the Cardiff and Burnley fixtures, resulted in two superb wins - 0-1 against Bolton (Sept 29) and 1-2 against Wolves (Oct 2).

It would be invidious to praise any individual players after such excellent team performances although Wilfried Zaha is currently on fire with four goals in two matches. Even with three Claret defenders surrounding him he managed to terrorise the opposition.

Will he soon be following Victor Moses to the Loadsamoulah League? I hope we can keep him for as long as possible.

So, 12 points in the last four games takes us up to fourth place in the Championship. After losing our first three league games earlier in the year, you would never have put good money on our being in nosebleed territory by early October.

I am once more being turfed out of my perch in the Arfur to make way for the gentlefolk from SE14 (Oct 20). We drew at home and beat Millwall away last season with a team that wasn't functioning remotely as impressively as our current line-up.

Hopefully we can sustain our form and give the Lions a right good seeing-to this time.

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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