Palace kings of the Glenn

Wednesday, 05/10/2011

by Chris Kirby, Shoot's Crystal Palace blogger

This time last week I woke with a huge smile on my face. Not because I’d had an amusing dream, not because it was sunny outside, not because my girlfriend had made me a cup of tea. But because my team, Crystal Palace, had beaten arch-rivals Brighton and Hove Albion by three delicious goals to one - in their own back yard.

To make things better, I live in central Brighton...

Granted, hanging my Palace towel off the balcony at 3am may not have been the wisest of moves on my part, but I was so overcome with excitement and jubilation that I simply didn’t care (I’m pleased to report it was still there at 11am the next day, and no windows were broken).

Normally the build up to a Championship match starts a matter of days before, but both sets of fans had been looking forward to this particular clash since June 17, – the day the 2011-12 fixtures were released.

Many outsiders don’t seem to understand or appreciate the rivalry between the two sides, but to keep it brief, it dates back to several clashes in the 1970s. One in particular (A 1-0 Palace victory in the Cup) led to Brighton manager Alan Mullery slamming five pound notes down into a puddle in front of the Eagles faithful, and stating “You’re not worth that, Palace!”. Amazingly he was later appointed as the Eagles manager, but it’s fair to say his reign didn’t last too long...

Personally, being the young scamp that I am, I had only ever witnessed four Palace/Brighton fixtures before this one. The most memorable being the 5-0 demolition of the Seagulls (including an Andy Johnson hat-trick) back in October 2002. It’s fair to say we had been living off that result ever since. Positively gloating at every opportunity, in fact.

However, following Brighton’s domination of League One last season, coupled with their storming start in the Championship, we knew this wouldn’t be quite so easy. Before the game, I don’t recall one Palace fan genuinely believing we could win. We were the underdogs for the first time in a long, long time.

Brighton had their new plastic fantastic “American Express Community Stadium”, a former Spain international on the wing and one of the most highly rated young managers in the game. We had a fat lad from Carlisle upfront who supposedly was no longer good enough for our hosts (despite being their top scorer the previous season).

With 2,500 Eagles in the away end, there was no doubt the atmosphere would be electric. Craig-Million-Smith’s early goal may have dampened the spirits for a matter of seconds, but the Red ‘n’ Blue Army (on and off the pitch) would not surrender to defeat.

Wilfried Zaha and Darren Ambrose’s late goals were things of beauty (well maybe not Ambrose’s, but you know what I mean….) and it was down to one man to put the cherry on the top of the cherry on top of the cake. Step forward Sir Glenn of Murrayville. I well and truly salute you.

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