A night game at Selhurst is always an experience. In recent times, the regular Tuesday games in the Championship had a different feel to the Saturday matches – somehow more dramatic and tense. Palace seemed rarely to lose, the atmosphere seemed louder and the away support had usually had plenty more time to soak up the local hospitality (i.e. Were more drunk)
In the Premier League it’s a little different. First of all, there are considerably more people. The problems of having enough staff and equipment to keep all turnstiles open in an evening match, for example, matter an awful lot more than a few years ago, hence my match report begins with a reference to a 25 minute wait in a queue to get into the ground, after battle tediously slow moving traffic to get near the ground. Sure the money’s huge and the support greater, but being in the Premier League is a real pain sometimes!
Wednesday night was the night “The Toon” came to town to face a Palace side managed by their pariah, “Cockney” Alan Pardew (born in Wimbledon, so as much of a cockney as those visiting fans). So deep is the general hatred from much of the Newcastle support that they just can’t stop talking about the man on their messageboards – following the minutia of Palace’s season almost as closely as their own now. Each to their own I say – I enjoy a crafty look at the Brighton forum every week for a dose of schadenfreude.
The stage was set – and Palace fans hopeful of building on a decent display at Leicester, all the while aware that this visiting team would be full of players with a point to prove and coached by a manager who knows Pardew very well indeed. A stalemate was perhaps a predictable result, and so it proved.
As the teams walked onto the field of play, the familiar sounds of Glad all Over rang out, but once done the home support roundly backed manager Alan Pardew to drown out the muted jeers of the Geordie faithful. “Super Al” and “Alan Pardew’s Red n’ Blue Army” filled the air as the game kicked off. Palace began immediately on the front foot – Wilfried Zaha combined with Marouane Chamakh, who strode towards the Newcastle box before finding Yaya Sanogo on the edge of the area. Sanogo’s loose touch ran on to Zaha who shot first time into the arms of Tim Kruhl in the Newcastle goal with the clock showing 2 minutes.
A little over 10 minutes later, Joe Ledley was unlucky to just get the timing of a header wrong as he connected with a Jason Puncheon free kick as Palace had the better of the opening exchanges. Shortly afterwards, Palace made an enforced change – something of a feature this season – with Yaya Sanogo going off with what appeared to be a hamstring injury. The on-loan Arsenal forward looks like he’ll be out for 3 weeks and was replaced by Fraizer Campbell.
Campbell thought he’d ended a long wait for his 4th Palace goal when he connected with a Puncheon ball in to flick home a header. A free kick from the left had found its way over to Joe Ledley on the right of the box, Ledley moved the ball inside to Puncheon, whose teasing inswinging ball in met the head of the former Cardiff man, but he was in an offside position and the goal disallowed.
That proved the zenith of the first half until just before the break, as both sides pressed high and forced any possession to be deep in each half and chances at a premium. Indeed it was Newcastle’s first chance on 42 minutes that gave them the lead. Palace had been probing, looking for an opening in a solid backline when the ball broke to Moussa Sissoko. He hit a glorious curling pass into to the run of Daryl Janmaart. Zaha kept pace with the overlapping fullback but was unable to prevent the cross – and cross which found a criminally unmarked Papiss Cisse who was able to power home a standing header into the top corner unchallenged. A good move but with three Palace defenders, Kelly, Hangeland and Delaney, not picking up a single Newcastle player, questions must be asked within the back line over how the team could so easily concede just before half time.
During Newcastle’s celebrations – which took place in front of the Holmesdale – a coin hit defender Fabricio Coloccini, with the controversial moment acting as the final moment of action in the first half. There will be a separate article examining the incident on Read Crystal Palace.
Palace made no changes at the break but started the second half looking to get level as soon as they could. Fraizer Campbell connected with a Jason Puncheon free kick from the left. Some Zaha trickery and running had drawn the foul but Campbell was just about unable to get over the ball when he made contact and the chance went high and wide. Shortly afterwards, Marouane Chamakh played a loose pass but immediately won the ball back to feed Zaha. The England International cut inside and played a curling right footed pass out to Jason Puncheon on the right wing. Puncheon swung in a dangerous cross, but once again it was slightly too high for Campbell and the ball drifted out for a goal kick.
Newcastle’s response to the pressure was to sit a little deeper and crowd the danger areas out wide, leaving Palace little space to create chances and the game was drifting towards a 1-0 defeat much the way the previous home game against Everton had been. Alan Pardew, never shy of making changes, had seen enough on 65 minutes to replace Chamakh with Dwight Gayle and, two minutes later, Martin Kelly with Yannick Bolasie. It was the latter who made a big impact. Having been named in the AFCON team of the tournament, Bolasie continued his great form by being a confident and direct presence on the right, with Puncheon moving central and Ledley to left back.
Moments after the change, Puncheon picked up the ball in a central area and shifted it out to Bolasie on the right. Bolasie controlled the ball, shimmied and then immediately put in a long, curling cross which found the onrushing Fraizer Campbell, who slid the ball home in front of a jubilant Holmesdale stand. The relief was palpable and from that moment, it was simply a case of whether Newcastle could hold out.
The very next Palace attack followed a similar pattern – Puncheon once again central, this time on the half way line, shifted the ball right to Bolasie. Bolasie looked up before advancing further down the right and picking his moment for another cross from deep. This time it found the head of a leaping Dwight Gayle who brilliantly flicked the ball on to the feet of Wilfried Zaha. Zaha shifted the ball to his right but hesitated before firing in his shot, giving the defence a chance to block the effort.
A momentary lapse as Speroni played a loose pass out ended with Papiss Cisse driving the ball over from long range but in all honesty. Newcastle had become a spent force going forward. John Carver’s response was to make three late subs, all defensive in nature, to hold off the Eagles’ onslaught. The congested midfield and penalty area made it hard for any further genuine chances.
With just three minutes left on the clock, Daryl Janmaat inexplicably handballed to knock the ball behind under pressure from Zaha. Even more inexplicable was the award of a corner and not a free kick (the offence taking place fractionally outside the area) but from the corner, Puncheon found the head of Brede Hangeland. Hangeland headed the ball powerfully at goal and Tim Kruhl produced a fine save to deny the big Norwegian. It was at a good height for the stop, but a good save nevertheless.
There were no more chances and both sides took away a mildly satisfying point. Palace will maybe feel that the overall balance of the game should have seen 3 points, but Newcastle have some quality in their side and took their chance well.
Onto the next one…
