Coventry away: My experiences

Coventry away has been a rich hunting ground for palace in recent years; we often score four!

But it has not always been that way. The first experience of this fixture came on the last game of the 2004 season when we needed a victory against a poor mid-table side with a new manager to secure a spot in the play-offs. Typically, Palace failed to do this and instead lost 2-1 after missing a hatful of chances. Fortunately irony came to the rescue as West Ham’s Brian Deane produced that famous goal and the rest as they say is history.

The last time I travelled to Coventry however was a far different affair as Palace turned up all guns blazing and producing one of the best performances of Iain Dowie’s last season in charge. We won 4-1 on the day but it could easily have been more.



It was one of the first games to be played at the new £150million Ricoh Arena and I have to say I wasn’t impressed. The ground is out of town which makes it extremely difficult to get to (especially by public transport), the atmosphere was subdued and there were a lot of teething problems.

One of which was one of the strangest things I have ever heard at any game I’ve been to. Mid-way through the first half with Palace on top, the tannoy suddenly started blasting out ‘Glad all over’ at full volume. It wasn’t the most successful method of keeping the away fans quiet I have ever seen. I only wish I was there to enjoy it, unfortunately we were in the home end, although you wouldn’t have thought it seen as my mum managed to get away with celebrating all four Palace goals without a steward batting an eye lid.

We tend to travel in numbers to this fixture, so those in attendance should find a good atmosphere and with any luck a good result.

Here’s hoping!