Pitch black. 4:45AM. Feeling fatigued I gather myself with
thoughts of what are going to be a long series of train journeys hopefully
punctuated by the boost of our first three points of the season on Teesside Vs
Middlesbrough. Conservatively a six hundred mile round trip to Teesside awaited
and judging by the fortunes of my Reading supporting friends we were at least
(un)lucky enough to get the match on. Buoyed by the signings on Friday of
Bristol City’s Yannick Bolassi, Darcy Blake from Cardiff and Brazilian Andre
Moritz, the question on my mind at the start of the journey was could this be a
start of a change in our fortunes?
As outer London, Peterborough, the Midlands and York shot by
on the train to Darlington going through to Middlesbrough past a varied rural,
urban, and industrial landscape I had one major hope of an improved performance
and a reaction to the heavy defeat suffered in Bristol on Tuesday night. This
was my first visit to the Riverside and an impressive modern structure awaited
my arrival. A similar design but on a bigger scale to Derby County’s Pride
Park, the stadiums large capacity made it look positively cavernous with a
Championship attendance of a mere 18,000 people inside it. It struck me as I wondered
around outside before kick off if Middlesbrough are struggling to get back into
the Premier League with such a great stadium just how competitive the
Championship actually is and just how difficult it can be to compete given the
financial realities Crystal Palace have to face up to and operate within.
To the match and a competitive opening 42 minutes followed.
Darcy Blake made a difference in defence tightening things up at the back and
Yannick Bolassi looked eager, exciting and full of energy running on the wing.
The Brazilian Moritz was on the bench. In the first half Middlesbrough tried to
gain control of possession in midfield, pressurising Garvan and Jedinak and
neutralising Wilf Zaha. This tactic gained its first reward on 42 minutes when
Hines flick header off a corner found the net to give Middlesbrough a 1 – 0
half time lead. In the second half poor defending from a free kick led to a
second Boro goal and a poor excuse to play some sixties music following a goal
from Zamamma. (Where’s 'Zamamma’ gone in case you were interested, irony I
think.) At 2 – 0 down Palace started to play, a penalty won and converted by
Jermaine Easter halved the deficit to 2 – 1 and at this point the introduction
of Brazilian Moritz linked up play and for twenty minutes or so and the Boro
were on the back foot and Palace’s endeavour was creating chances without ever
quite breaking through.
This was a far improved performance from Bristol without
actually getting a result. With twenty minutes or so left Jermaine Easter went
off injured and the young, raw and hungry talents of Kwesi Appaih were on show
in a cameo appearance that nearly brought its own rewards and towards the end
Palace were unlucky not to knick a draw. If you are going to go down to a
defeat a long way from home Palace did it in the proper fashion showing
endeavour and trying, still in with a chance of getting something from the game
right until the end despite eventually losing 2 – 1.
The return journey from Middlesbrough back home was long,
but uneventful and after crossing London from Kings Cross I was home soon after
eleven in time to catch the end of Match of the Day. My overwhelming feeling on
the days football was resigned frustration because despite positive moves in
the transfer market that may not yet be over thanks to the room for manoeuvre
given to the club by the transfer of Victor Moses, I still feel Dougie Freedman
may be up against it however he eventually plays his cards. The reality of football
to me is I support Palace regardless but it is increasingly difficult to
compete in what is becoming a harshly money orientated industry. Yet one only
hopes the passion of the fans, owners, and management alike unites to pull in
the same direction to get us through difficult times on the pitch.
The distractions of the Capital One Cup second round await
and an away tie Vs Preston North End on Tuesday night and I will give brief
mention to the tie ahead of my next blog post and the visit of the Owls of Sheffield
Wednesday at Selhurst at the weekend. Forgiven as I am sure we all are for
condemning them to their fate in 2010.
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