Palace Cut Gap to Leaders despite Stalemate Blues!

The Christmas fixture list got underway on Saturday afternoon against Birmingham City at St Andrews. Glenn Murray’s nineteenth and twentieth goals of the season took him to the top of the goal scorers’ charts, but goals from Zigic and Papa Bouba Diop pegged Palace back to a consecutive 2 – 2 draw. After a bright start frustration was the order of the afternoon as Bouba Diop prevented Palace’s first victory in nine visits to St Andrews since 2004. The frustration was Birmingham’s goals came from obvious and preventable sources at times when concentration and organisation could have stopped them being scored.

This undermined all Palace’s earlier good work as Garvan and Bolasie  went close in the first half and the indomitable Murray scored a brace either side of the half time break. Both goals came from good work by Palace’s fullbacks Ward and Parr who set up the goals with good crosses. Birmingham’s favourite boo boy, Marlon King looked dangerous, but for the most part Palace coped with the threat well. Soaking up Birmingham pressure Palace broke through Bolasie on thirty five minutes and when Ward crossed Murray scored. A lead Murray would double on the hour mark with his twentieth goal of a superb season.

Two moments in the game that would prove crucial came early. At 0 – 0 Bolasie failed to score following another marauding box to box run only for England international Jack Butland to make the save. Again at 2 – 0 a key moment to make it three and win the game went begging. Moritz latched onto a through ball beating Butland to the ball, lifting it over him, only for the ball to clear the crossbar.

So it would prove and Palace would pay for their profligacy in front of goal. Throwing away a two goal lead for the second match running is not Championship winning form. Although in different circumstances to Blackpool last week and made less galling by Peterborough’s surprising win over Cardiff because the gap to the top is cut to two points. Yet the frustration remains in the careless and preventable nature of the goals conceded. Two free headers from set pieces. One goal scored by Zigic, the tallest player in the Championship. The other a header scored by Diop, one of the biggest players on the pitch. Both should be obvious targets for Palace players to pick up and have plans in place for in such situations.

It may seem unfair on Ian Holloway, but it seems unlikely that such late goals that have been conceded in the last week would have been conceded when Palace were on their earlier fourteen game unbeaten run. Yet Holloway has a difficult act to follow and he would be acutely aware of the need to cut out simple errors, concentrating on fitness till the end of matches, if the promotion run is to be sustained. It may be very unfair and premature to link recent late mistakes to the departures of the old backroom staff as Holloway needs his own staff in place and the January window to imprint his personality on the squad.

Whilst not wasting this golden opportunity for promotion with silly mistakes we should also not let pressure of expectation ware us down. Especially not if we consider the opportunity in front of us in the face of where Crystal Palace has come from in the last two years. On the field KG Dikgacoi was an excellent captain in the absence of the suspended Mile Jedinak. Garvan and Moritz also linked up well even if by starting Moritz lost his status as an impact substitute. These are all useful and important things for Holloway to consider as he tries to finish the job and mould Palace into a side capable of promotion.

After the frustration of a Zigic goal with his first touch the Birmingham comeback was complete on eighty two minutes when the ex Fulham, Portsmouth, and West Ham player Papa Bouba Diop headed home the equaliser. On the face of it more than a little frustrating but given our record in the past decade at St Andrews this could be a good point, more than useful in the battle for promotion if we beat or take points off Cardiff City in Wales on Boxing day.

On Saturday we play Huddersfield Town at Selhurst Park in the first meeting since the 2000/01 campaign when Huddersfield went down instead of us thanks to a certain goal we remember so fondly. It also sees the return of Sean Scannell and Alan Lee to Selhurst Park.