A cold, crisp, early autumnal Friday night was given a real
continental atmosphere from the terraces as an exuberant and passionate away
support understood the importance of the first South London derby of the
season. Palace’s first trip to the Valley since a 1 – 0 defeat in 2009 was lit
up from the terraces with echoes of fire crackers and the pungent aroma of red
and blue smoke that drifted across the sky, warming the cold night air. The
message from the Palace support was clear they were up for the challenge.
The Palace team responded to the noise and colour coming
from the terraces very much on the front foot and attacking from the off. Palace made one change from the line up against
Sheffield Wednesday with Kagisho Dikgacoi replacing Andre Moritz in midfield
after recovering from injury after the international break. In the first ten
minutes Garvan and Jedinak were commanding opening up space on the flanks for
Bolassi and Zaha to torment Charlton. Palace’s degree of control was based on
work rate, pressing, tracking back and generally keeping a good team shape.
Freedman understands the crucial importance of the derby games in South London
football and again he impressed this onto the team and the players responded.
Jonathan Parr led a focussed defence and inspired by the atmosphere they kept a
clean sheet for the first time this season as with Speroni behind him his
understanding with Blake and Delaney continued to develop.
The game flowed in an open fashion and Charlton came into it
indeed the game could have gone differently because despite having the early
chances and the run of the game Palace could have been on the back foot if
Bradley Wright-Phillips headed finish from a free kick not been disallowed for
offside. Towards the end of the first half a Johnny Jackson free kick went
narrowly wide and Jan Kermorgant forced a good save from Speroni as his shot
went narrowly over. Yet Palace’s running and movement especially from Glenn
Murray meant they pressed very well and for large periods were good at keeping
the ball as they fed off the electricity coming from the crowd.
Freedman is unbeaten since taking over in South London Derby
clashes and victory on Friday night meant he completed the set with away
victories at Brighton Millwall and now Charlton. The result was important to
keep the momentum of the previous victory against Sheffield Wednesday and
having not won away all year and having lost seven of the last nine meetings
against Charlton a shift in fortunes was equally important. The result relieved
the pressure on Freedman showing he understood the importance of the fixture
recognising its significance and his ability to get results when it matters.
The key moment of the game came on 49 minutes four minutes
into the second half when KG Dikgacoi brilliantly dispatched a chest trap
volley into the net on the half turn. Charlton failed to clear a Wilf Zaha
corner and when the cross was flicked on by Garvan and touched to KG by Murray
he turned dispatching the volley into the net past Ben Hamer giving the keeper
no chance. The South African had been in Brazil on international duty and
Freedman wondered whether he had picked up some samba skills because the Scott
said he had not picked up the technique from him. The goal sent the travelling
fans into raptures and was met by more fire crackers as the continental
atmosphere from the terraces clearly inspired the team.
What followed was an inspired victory built on hard work,
pressing, keeping a shape, and penetration based around the disciplined running
and tireless work rate of Glenn Murray. Yet defensive perspiration and element
of good fortune and a change of luck was still required. The goal from
Wright-Phillips was ruled out for offside because Darcy Blake’s slip was not
seen by the linesman and in the last ten minutes Jedinak headed off the line
following a fantastic save from Julian Speroni. Then in stoppage time
goalkeeper Ben Hamer had a header again cleared off the line when he came up
for a corner. What followed was the final whistle sparking scenes of delirious
celebration at the Jimmy Seed end of the ground as palace recorded their first
win at the Valley in the league since 1968.
A foot note to my own season so far watching Palace away
from home. The fact my train home from Waterloo after the game broke down for
three hours and left me stranded at Mortlake station at 01:30 with network rail
picking up the tab for a taxi the rest of the way home gave me time to reflect
upon Palace’s own travails on the road this calendar year. On the away trip to
Bristol the roads were gridlocked by a bomb scare and the journey was delayed
for two hours. Not sure of the relevance of this is but we lost 4 – 1 in
Bristol but the most daunting and outwardly complicated away day, to Boro,
turned out to be the most straightforward with the best performance prior to
winning at Charlton.
I guess this shows things can turn around when you least
expect it because of footballs propensity to surprise. No doubt an interesting
and exciting season experience will continue against a reinvigorated Nottingham
Forest on Tuesday night.
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