Having missed the trip to Brighton, I was excited to get back on the road again and go to our second Premier League away game of the season, though I’d be lying if I said I was feeling confident. The stats after our first three games looked as follows:
3 played. 2 losses. 1 point. 0 wins.
It had been an undeniably poor start, especially as our solitary point came against Burnley who have proven to be useless since. At Everton, we were deserving of the loss, but a positive performance at home against Leicester was undone by Højbjerg’s red card amidst our capitulation, having gone 1-0 up. It was hoped that the midweek Carabao Cup win would inspire us to kick start our league campaign. A failure to win at Selhurst Park would have meant heading into the international break without a win, with only the Carabao Cup to distract us from the misery, much like the FA Cup did last year. Having said that, the distraction would only last until the next round when we go back up to Goodison…
I travelled up to London on the Official Saints Coach Travel, which was half an hour late as they hadn’t accounted for the fact that England were playing at the Ageas Bowl… Looking forward to my next away day, Liverpool, when I can relax on a train instead of stressing about traffic… Eventually we got to the ground at ten past two, and there I met Palace fan Harvey, whom you may remember I met last season. We were both once again on 90Min FanVoice duty, which you can enjoy here:
You can watch my extended edit here:
One thing those vlogs proved is I can’t really remember how to celebrate a win, it has been so long. I was just in disbelief of how the game panned out, kind of speechless. This post will probably be short as there’s not much to say, other than we were brilliant. In fact, there’s only one thing I could think of about that away day to complain about…
Selhurst Park. I hate it. It might be traditional, it might have character, but I hated it last year and this year I felt the same. Last year, I ended up in a restricted view seat and could not see past the centre circle; anything happening on the far side, I couldn’t comment on – which is awkward when you’re vlogging. I couldn’t even see when Steven Davis scored our winner, because of a pole in the way. This year was undeniably better; I was row 5 and could see – in fact my view was better than at Goodison. But the concourse is just too small, that area by the Gate 6 entrance with the bar and the toilets is just too cramped. I don’t mind old grounds, I like both Turf Moor and Goodison, but Selhurst Park… here’s a quote from my blog about it 12 months ago which sums it up.
It’s just a shed isn’t it? The away seats didn’t have numbers, instead there were random numbers painted on; 22 and 28 were next to each other.
One thing that makes up for it is our form at the ground. It seems to be a real favourite for Saints; even Pellegrino managed an away win here – though the Palace we played a year ago was a very different proposition to that which we faced on Saturday. Except they weren’t. A year ago they broke records for the longest start without a goal – the blame partly on Frank De Boer, but also on the absence of Wilfried Zaha. To our surprise, the talisman was left out of their squad, and with Palace having not won a game without Zaha in over two years, it was a chance we had to take.
From the off, Palace looked shaky defensively. Sakho and Hennessey both going for the same ball almost resulted in an early goal, and Hennessey had to tip over a Milivojevic clearance header from an Elyounoussi freekick. Their keeper did well in fairness, making a fine to save to tip over a powerful Højbjerg long distance effort. I said at half time failure to win would be a missed opportunity, though had said that against Leicester… We had been the only team in the game; a part from a Milivojevic volley straight at McCarthy, we had been untroubled.
It didn’t take long to capitalise on a defensive lapse in the second half, when both Sakho and Kelly failed to deal with a Cédric cross, that fell perfectly for Danny Ings to nutmeg Hennessey and score his second goal for the club. Well taken, well deserved.
After that the game became more even, in fact we were lucky to hold on with McArthur hitting the bar and Benteke drawing a save from McCarthy, which resulted in a goal mouth scramble that lasted way too long. Despite this, we were then gifted the perfect opportunity to go 2-0 up; a penalty awarded for a Wan Bissaka handball. A penalty that substitute Austin decided to hit with no power down the middle, allowing Hennessey to save it with his legs. A poor penalty from someone who has been so reliable up until now. He hasn’t had a good start to the season, though did notch the winner last Tuesday. Mostly we aren’t set up to play to his strengths; his best use now is impact sub to capitalise on defensive errors. However, at this level, you have to do better than that from the spot.
Redmond drew a save out of Hennessey, and Elyounoussi could only hit the bar with the rebound effort. A good chance, and unlucky not to have been taken. However, it looked like our failure to see the game off would come back to bite. Defensive subs in Romeu and Targett did little to inspire confidence – last season saw us sit on a 1-0 lead too many times, and every time we sat deep, we conceded. And we should have done on Saturday. Benteke’s header that was saved by McCarthy’s legs had to be buried. Had to be. Oh well, justice for his dive in the first half, that like Ayew’s, went unpunished. The ref didn’t buy them, but then why weren’t they booked? Having had Højbjerg rightly booked and sent off for one last week, where’s the consistency?
Last week’s villain had put in an impressive shift to apologise for his misjudgement 7 days earlier. Well the best was yet to come. 2 minutes into the additional 6 of injury time, Hoedt laid a brilliant clearance out to Targett, who rolled it across to Højbjerg. The Dane was composed and found the net with his left foot, having busted a gut to get up the pitch from our own box. 2-0. Saints had won, and actually sealed the game with a second goal. Cue bedlam in the away end!
An absolutely brilliant performance. Everyone in the team performed well, especially the scapegoats Cédric and Hoedt, who not only both defended well, but also played a vital part in the goals. Credit where it’s due. We played well, and in the end Hughes got the tactics right, even if I was uncertain at the time. We were fully deserving of the three points.
Its good to go into the international break on a high, but having just picked up two consecutive wins for the first time since April 2017, I almost wish the momentum wasn’t being halted. Indeed, two weeks tonight is our next game; a home clash against Brighton which we should win. Confidence will be high, especially having just beaten them in their own backyard. And with Liverpool away after that, we need to get something from that game. But for now, I’m happy. Though, to play Devil’s Advocate, last year we won away at Palace, Forster, made a good save from Benteke to keep a clean sheet… and that was under Pellegrino; we know how that all ended. There are parallels, but let’s hope that’s where they end and that we can push on into the top 10.
I’ll be back in two weeks time with another vlog and blog post. Don’t expect too much from me on any of my social media in between, as I’m busy moving back up to university. Apologies, but I’ll see you in a fortnight!
Owen The Saints 