Crystal Palace Awayday Review

Crystal Palace v QPR Awayday Review 14/02/06

By Richard Haynes for the QPR Rivals site

1 – The Match

Rangers went down 2-1 but were unlucky not to get a point. Morrison and McAnuff hit the back of the net for Palace and Furlong scored the solitary Rangers goal. An experimental line up of 4-1-4-1 from Rangers and a slow start was our undoing. Chances at either end and plenty of goal mouth action meant that the game was very entertaining. Palace did edge it on the first half but we had them under a lot of pressure in the second and were unlucky not to get anything out of the game.

7/10

2 – Rangers’ Performance

Rangers started slowly and Palace came out all guns blazing and that led to the early Palace goal. The experimental formation of 4-1-4-1 was not working and after the second Palace goal Waddock changed things around by substituting Bignot and putting Furlong up front to join Nygaard. After this switch of formation Rangers performed much better. We played the ball on the ground and stopped Palace playing their brand of football with them resorting to hoof ball. After Furlong came on we looked the better team and the goal when it came was just reward. A much improved performance from recent Rangers performances.

7/10

3 – Rangers’ Support

Approximately 800 Rangers fans braved the cold of a Valentines Tuesday night to support the team. The fact that each one of them paid £30 to see the game was outstanding to say the least.

The fans were in good voice from the start with some great humour and banter being thrown around. The first chant of ‘Thirty Pounds. You’re Having A Laugh’ was met with smiles and nodding approval from the Palace fans to the left.

The Palace goalkeeper, Kiraly, always wears track suit bottoms and this was an opportunity not to be missed by the Rangers faithful. ‘Track Suit From Matalan’ was sung out to put the goalkeeper off at regular intervals.

There was even a chance to reprise the ‘Pinky Give Us A Wave’ chant from the Luton match when Rangers fans spotted a lady in pink amongst the Palace fans to the right. Good spot!

Rangers supporters sang all night and most stayed behind to cheer and clap the team off the pitch.

8/10

4 – The Ground

Selhurst Park is an old ground with character and that is part of it’s downfall. The facilities for away fans are basic and a little bit shabby. The seats are the old wooden type – for £30 I was expecting a leather sofa! Leg room was a bit tight for my companion and I as we are both over 6 feet tall. You can get a drink inside the ground and a companion had a pie which was Pukka.

The view is obstructed by a post and away fans cannot see the giant screen to the right as it is obstructed by the TV camera gantry.

The programme cost £3.00 which is the same as ours and is quite an interesting read. Palace are celebrating 100 years and they had a middle section detailing Palace/QPR encounters over the last 100 years. They somehow missed out that 6-0 drubbing we gave them to survive relegation a while back…

The gents loos were like an ice skating rink – need I say more?

5/10

5 – Atmosphere

The Atmosphere was generated by the Rangers fans. Only once did Palace fans sing up and that was at our goading. They only cheered when they scored. I note that Iain Dowie criticised the Palace fans. If the Rangers fans weren’t singing and chanting all night it would have been like a morgue.

6/10

6 – Pre-Match

Had a drink in Victoria and then inside the ground as I didn’t like the look of any of the local pubs.

6/10

7 – Journey

As I live in Bedford I had to get a train to London then across to Victoria for another train to Selhurst. This all went to plan with my train from Bedford to London getting in 5 minutes early which is unheard of. The train to Selhurst was quite busy as it was the evening rush hour with workers amongst the travelling fans.

Some QPR fans think that Selhurst Park is a nightmare to get to but the walk from Selhurst station to the ground is easy and straight forward. A ten minute walk that was made easier by the floodlights of the ground leading the way.

The journey home was just as easy and I was in just after midnight.

8/10

8 – Police/Stewards

All rangers fans were subjected to searches by stewards before entering Selhurst Park. No issue there.

The stewards inside were o.k. They enjoyed some friendly banter with a few Rangers fans. Plice were standing and staring but not doing anything else which is exactly what they should be doing.

A large portion of Rangers fans to the left were standing all through the game and were allowed to do so.

However, on the way out after the game all Rangers fans had to leave the stadium through an exit that was made narrower by policemen not opening one of the gates and lining the exit themselves as though they were protecting the gates and walls. Did not see the point of that and it could have been a health and safety issue if there was an emergency.

7/10