Burchy’s Palace Blog Extract 9 11/11/11 Reality Check;

It has been a great season for Palace so far but at the start of November things have got a little tougher. A goalless draw with Reading was followed on November 1st by a dull and attritional goalless draw with Portsmouth and last Saturday we lost 2 – 0 away at Cardiff City for the first time in eight games. On a positive note though at half time in Wales when it was 0 – 0 Dougie’s boys had gone a club record of over ten hours without conceding a goal so it is not all bad, there are definite signs of improvements from last season with greater defensive resilience running through the side and that confidence been reflected by better results. Although it was certainly disappointing to lose to Cardiff, a defeat was always bound to come eventually and despite we have now not scored in three matches had we not lost it would have been over a month without conceding a goal.

After the luxurious surroundings of the Reading game it was back to the normality of the Arthur Waite stand for the Portsmouth match. To be fair Portsmouth played better and possibly deserved the win, but Palace fought doggedly and were running on empty after a busy run of games (only to get busier) and despite running on empty held on for a battling point. This was a game we would have probably lost last year or in recent seasons so it was good to notice the improvement. Indeed it was enjoyable to go to a match with my friend Phil who was between teaching jobs abroad and was in the UK for four days to witness two goalless draws and state; ‘not much has changed then’ the reality though is things are changing for the better both on and off the pitch.

Last Saturday (to the date of originally writing) I went to the Welsh capital for an away day at the Cardiff City Stadium. Although Palace lost it was an enjoyable day as I had not been to Cardiff’s new stadium and it was a very different experience from the older, less welcoming, somewhat backward experience of Ninian Park. For starters the new ground has disabled toilets – an improvement on the porter cabin loos of the old more antiquated yet strangely missed Ninian Park. The day itself was an interesting test of independence for my new wheelchair as I toured around Cardiff city centre with friends before the game. The match itself could have been different had we been more clinical in the first half, yet to be fair in the second half there was little we could do as both goals were fantastic finishes that changed the game. Indeed Freedman summed it up quite succinctly ‘undone by moments of brilliance, but equited themselves well as a team, also conducting themselves well for a young side.’
After the international break we travel to Leicester and then we have a massive local derby grudge game against Millwall and an exciting League Cup tie away at Old Trafford against Manchester United. In many respects the Millwall game is more important because in my memory I cannot remember the last time we beat Millscum and indeed last time we played at the Den we lost 3 – 0 and it saw the demise of George Burley and the return of club legend and saviour Dougie Freedman on a fulltime basis. It will be a great opportunity for the three Steve’s and 2010 alongside Freedman to show Palace’s exciting progress and by thrashing Millscum the excitement and satisfaction generated among us fans would be an early Christmas present to go with the famous victory over Brighton at the Ammex.

The Manchester United cup tie will be very enjoyable as I am overnighting in Salford Quays and credit to Utd for not charging disabled fans. It will be like a cup final because for fans like us who nearly lost our club completely eighteen months ago it really is a day out deserved by the whole club and the board considering the way the club is been run and the positive fashion in which the team are working hard and moving forward. Indeed a shock victory or even just a good performance will illustrate the progress being made and the stability of the whole operation behind the club, and this can only be recorded positively in the press and wider media. Besides we may get thrashed but a lot of good teams get hammered at Old Trafford but we have such a strong youth in the team that outcome is unlikely. We have shown we have earned our shot at the Champions as a club by quietly working hard so I say bring it on, besides should be fun! SB

Burchy's Palace Blog Extract Eight: Undefeated October Gives Way to Cup Draw Excitement

31/10/11;

Wow how good are Palace! Top performance lads! Unbelievable all the superlatives are not quite enough for what I am feeling towards Crystal Palace, the boys, and of course the Doog at the moment as this incredibly enjoyable but equally unexpected season is developing. Two wins and a draw in a week sets up an unexpectedly high league position and a league cup quarter final place. The only disappointing thing is I was looking forward to Barnsley away on a Tuesday night guess it will wait as Palace are destined for a bigger more high profile game night.

What a week starting against Ipswich at Portman Road I got an insight into the Carling Cup line up as goalkeeper Lewis Price told me he was likely to start. I also had a quick chat after the game with ex Ipswich and current injured Palace midfielder Owen Garvin who was in high spirits about the victory, results and Palace’s current form. The result against Ipswich started a great week that ended for me in an executive box at Selhurst Park watching the League Cup quarter final draw after our 2 – 0 victory in the fourth round against Southampton. I am writing this after the 0 – 0 draw against Reading that completed an undefeated October for the Doog and followed the exciting news of an away tie at Manchester United. Your prayers from now to the football gods would go down well and be appreciated. First however I want to look to where the good week started away to Ipswich.

Our victory at Portman Road was based around a solid central defensive partnership between Paddy McCarthy and Anthony Gardner being protected by David Wright and Mile Jedinak sitting in front the back four in the midfield and playing the ball to the pace of Scannell, Zaha, and Williams to attack beyond them. It worked too as second half pressure led to a rare goal for the accomplished Paddy McCarthy who up from the back for a free kick swept home a Scannell cross who sent in a centre after his free kick had come back off the Ipswich wall. The significance of the Ipswich result is it sent Palace into the Southampton cup tie brimming with confidence but in terms of the league it meant four wins by the end of October away from home surpassed the entire number of wins on the road all last season (a mere single victory!)

And so to the Southampton victory a solid 2 – 0 win over the league leaders seeing Palace advance to the League Cup quarter final. The win was inspired by the industry, majesty, guile and shear class of Palace’s academy prospect Jonathan Williams who won a penalty and set up the first goal for Darren Ambrose with a pin point cross. A well deserved victory set up by a strong young side produced by the Crystal Palace academy hopefully the proposed new EPPP Youth Development Programme will not be too damaging to its future. It is important therefore our fans voices were heard as part of a national fans protest on Saturday against Reading. At least Freedman and Parish know the value of giving young players a chance in the first team and Palace have a history of giving young players a pathway to playing on a regular basis giving the club a chance to point to precedence to make Palace always attractive to young footballers into the future. The future is uncertain but in the meantime the current crop of Palace youngsters have set up a deserved League Cup quarter final with Man Utd at Old Trafford what a prospect. Credit to my Saints following friend Ash who watched the game with me for not being too disappointed even if he could not accept it that yes, Zaha was “just too good for you!”

After the cup draw against Manchester United on Saturday came the 0 – 0 draw at home to Reading. Reading is always a big match for me as I lived in the area around Reading since 1991 and currently live in Wokingham. Saturday’s game was especially exciting and enjoyable though as it formed the prize won by a friend at last seasons fans forum and so courtesy of John Walker I was in an executive box with my friend, carer for the day and Reading fan/club employee Stuart Croucher. We all had a very enjoyable day thanks to the club for the prize and John for including me and Stuart. Despite being goalless it was memorable it was memorable for disallowed goals on both sides, penalties that were not given as well as fouls that could have been red card offences but were not. Eventful enough that even a fox wanted to watch.

Tomorrow Palace faces Portsmouth at home at the start of a November that if it is a month that follows the pattern of an undefeated October could be the lift off to a stable and successful season. If you factor into this a continuing cup run the season could go beyond successful and become historical but let us not get ahead of ourselves there is a long way to go. It will be exciting though! S B