Next up: Sheffield United

So the gaffer leads us up north to his old stomping ground once more to take on his apprentice Kevin Blackwell in the hope of continuing the current hoodoo he has over his beloved Blades.

The lads face a tough test today when we will meet a team not dissimilar to ours in its approach to the game.

We won't be able to bully the blades like we did Watford and Reading but what we can do is compete with them negate their approach to the game and give our more talented players the license to hurt them.

This worked beautifully against Reading but it very much relies on the form of Darren Ambrose and Victor Moses who were at their sparkling best on Tuesday night.

If picked today Moses, which he should be, will be playing on his 19th birthday so happy birthday to the lad and good luck for today.

United will be without Darius Henderson and Toni Kallio while surprise surprise Nick Montgomery is suspended. Neil has no simmilar concerns with the only absentee being Paddy McCarthy who will be sidelined for three months after undergoing shoulder surgery this week.

This game worries me, the signs are ominous; we won three of our last five games, we're unbeaten in eight and worst of all we are unbeaten against Sheffield United under Neil Warnock. Knowing Palace as i do, something has to change and i fearthat change could be today.

Heres hoping it doesnt!

Reading 2-4 Palace

An exquisite brace from wonder kid Victor Moses sealed a 4-2 victory in a pulsating tie at the Madjeski Stadium.

Nathanial Clyne opened the scoring with his first senior goal, and what a goal to open your account with. He cut in from the right wing and unleashed a shot from 20 yards that beat the keeper at his near post. Reading hit back with a Sigurdsson header before Moses retook the lead for Palace with an arrowed strike from 30 yards and Darren Ambrose found his shooting boots again with a near carbon copy of Clyne's goal.

Reading came back again after the break converting a penalty conceded by a clumsy Jose Fonte challenge.

After some nervy moments Moses cut inside from the left dropped his shoulder beat two defenders and finished emphatically to seal the win and leave the Eagles just two points of the Play-offs.

It was a sensational performance and just the right tonic for Palace fans who were left deflated after last weeks financial news and the embarrassing defeat at the hands of Doncaster Rovers.

Reading v Palace

So the question is which Palace will turn up tonight to face Reading?

The side that thrashed Watford or the side that were thrashed by Doncaster Rovers? Only time will tell but personally I am have faith in the managers ability to turn things round and ensure that Saturday doesn't happen again.

It's expected Warnock will name an unchanged side but hopefully he won't be tempted to be overly cautious and exile Victor Moses out onto the wing again. This is what happened on Saturday and look at the result; we need to be brave and take the game to a Reading side who are decidedly brittle at home.

The Royals' danger man will surely be Gregorz Rasiak who has a nasty habit of scoring against us and is dangerous aerially. There's also some old faces in the opposition camp tonight with Jobi McAnuff likely to start on the right wing (cue boos from Palace) and legend and former captain Dean Austin in the dugout after being named as Brendan Rodgers's assistant in the summer.


On a side-note, congratulations to Clint Hill who is in line to make his 100th appearance for the club tonight.

Good luck to the boys tonight and let's hope we can get back on track.

Here's hoping!

Ambrose named player of the Month

Darren Ambrose has scooped the prestigious Coca-Cola Championship Player of the Month award for November after scoring in all four of last months games.















The Midfield maestro fought off stiff competition for Kevin Nolan, Darius Henderson and Simon Cox for the award.

Unfortunately it seems to have had the same effect as the Manager of the Month curse as the defeat against Doncaster on Saturday saw the breaking of Ambrose's run of eight goals in eight consecutive games.

Nonetheless it is an honour and a fitting reward for a player that can surely be regarded as the signing of the season.

Let's hope his he can continue this form into the busy Christmas period.

Here's Hoping!

A little Premiership praise from a City fan

After attending the Carling Cup 2nd round tie at Selhurst Park, Manchester City fan Christopher Wildgoose was left surprised by the quality of football that we offered.

So much so that he has given his views from what he saw that night:

Many people have criticised Palace for playing long ball, rather than beautiful football and, although some long ball was on display, it was great to see the effects of Victor Moses bursting down the wing and causing the Manchester City defence problems.

It was a game that Palace deserved to win, and had it not been for a few dodgy refereeing decisions they may well have gone on to cause the shock of the round.

Darren Ambrose was one of the best players on the pitch that night, and it was clear to see that he was going to be vital in the Eagles' promotion push this year. He came very close to scoring a sensational goal in the first-half and pulled the strings as Palace piled on the pressure and it looked ever more likely that a breakthrough was imminent.

If Palace play as well as they did that night then I have every confidence that they can go on to at least snatch a play-off place at the end of the season. The performance against Watford was fantastic as they stamped their authority over a team who is also capable of challenging for a top-six finish come May.

What I think Palace are lacking is the clinical striker. West Brom have one in Luke Moore and Shola Ameobi is rampant at St. James' Park. This is what separates the very best from the teams on the borderline of reaching their full potential.

I can not see Palace going into administration. The fan base is fantastic, and it was clear to see when I was sat with my City faithful just how much you got behind the team. With the support and the current form I have confidence in saying that Palace will be a Premier League team very soon.

Palace 0-3 Doncaster Rovers

So after having two full days to calm down I feel I am finally able to reflect on the game fairly and without any snap judgements. For instance I no longer have the urge to have every Palace player who played apart in Saturdays defeat put up against a wall and shot, which is probably good news for Simon Jordan as he has precious few assets as it is.

After going through the highlights again numerous times you can see we just didn’t get the rub of the green like we did last week against Watford and a keen Palace observer could see it wasn’t going to be from a very early stage. Last week we had two chances early on and scored them both, this week we had those same two chances but Neil Danns and the newly crowned player of the month Darren Ambrose inexplicably managed to miss both chances with the goal gaping on both occasions.

If we had gone 2-0 up we would have cruised to victory, as it was, a potent mix of lacksadaisical defending and ruthless finishing left us 1-0 down just before half-time. A big performance was needed after the break and just as we looked really fired up Donny hit us with a sucker punch on the break and the player’s collective heads dropped. The final twenty or so minutes must have been torture for those in the ground as James Hayter smashed home their third of the afternoon but the score line flattered them. Julian Speroni had nothing to do for the whole ninety minutes except pick the ball out of the net so as Mr Warnock say’s we will just have to “Take this one on the chin” and remember the performance last week and all the good things that have taken us to within striking distance of the play-offs.

Even opposing manager Sean O'Driscoll admitted that his side rode their luck on the way to victory: "I thought we were excellent. Palace are a difficult team to defend against and we took our chances well. In this division you need a little bit of luck and we took it."


Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was it destroyed in a day, so fans will have to keep some perspective (including me) when the lads have a stinker, take it on the chin and just accept that that is what Supporting Palace means. Even if we are less Rome more and more Pompeii at the moment with our finances.

I wouldn’t bet against a good result against Reading on Tuesday and a much improved performance, it’s a certainty Warnock won’t allow a repeat Saturday.

Here’s Hoping!

Help the club and 'Pass it on'

Show your support for the team by helping the club in its 'Pass it on' campaign that it hopes can help to sell out our christmas fixtures. Join the Facebook group and Pass on the brilliant new ticket offers that have jus been released based on meetings between the club and fans.