Crystal Palace may never shrug off the perception that they are from the wrong side of London’s footballing tracks – and there is a sense they would not have it any other way. The stakes for Alan Pardew and his team have raised a notch, however, and many more performances in the vein of this disciplined win will perpetuate the theory that they are capable of doing better than bloodying the occasional nose.
“We’re south London, we know where we are,” said Pardew, whose team were pushed back during a frenetic first quarter-hour but, by the 49th minute, merited the two-goal lead that would eventually prove decisive. “The fans know where we are. They are enjoying the ride and let them enjoy it. I’m not going to throw water over their fire of enthusiasm.”
Norwich had a creditable go at doing that themselves and should have taken the lead when Lewis Grabban hit a post in front of an open goal from Steven Whittaker’s cross. The error proved costly as Wilfried Zaha, who had swapped to his preferred left flank after an anonymous opening spell that led Pardew to admit he had miscalculated his starting lineup, adjusted well to volley in Jason Puncheon’s cross.
Damien Delaney appeared unchallenged to sweep in Palace’s second after what was in equal measure a well-worked corner routine and a lesson in defensive negligence. Palace seemed comfortable but Nathan Redmond’s 25-yard daisy cutter past Alex McCarthy, whose footwork seemed inadequate, restored Norwich’s belief and they thought they had equalised when Cameron Jerome’s 75th-minute overhead kick was deemed illegal by the referee.
The reasoning was that Jerome’s high boot had impeded Joel Ward’s attempt to head clear; the home team bristled long after the close but Delaney, in close attendance, felt the decision was just reward for Palace’s committed approach.
“Joel did brilliantly,” Delaney said. “He gave the referee a decision to make. A lot of defenders wouldn’t have stuck their head in the way Wardy did but he asked the question of the referee. If Wardy shies away from that there’s no decision, it’s a guaranteed goal, but that’s what we’ve been about in the last two or three years, putting bodies on the line and digging in when the going gets tough.”
There was more finesse about Palace’s third goal, scored neatly by Yohan Cabaye after what had been a conservative debut, and the Norwich manager, Alex Neil, was left to reflect. “With the smaller teams like us and Bournemouth, if you’ve just come up and lost, then [people will say]: ‘They don’t know what it takes. They lack this, they lack that.’ But it’s going to be decided over the course of time.
“I was pleased with how the boys acquitted themselves but the crucial part is to turn that dominance into goals. If it’s 2-2, then we’re the team that’s going forward. But with the fine margin of the disallowed goal and them scoring as we’re pushing to get ourselves back into the game, all of a sudden it’s 3-1 and we’re outclassed. That’s how people will see it.”
That is true of much football analysis; it is fair to state that Neil’s team played with a resilience and, at their best, a tempo that suggest they will be nobody’s fools between now and May. Grabban’s miss, however, and the way in which the centre-back Sébastien Bassong was exposed for pace by Puncheon before Zaha’s goal spoke of deficiencies at both ends that will need addressing quickly. “I’d like to hope we’d try to get someone in before Saturday [when Norwich play Sunderland] but I couldn’t say for definite,” said Neil.
Palace’s sharpness in those areas was that of a team further along the evolutionary scale and Pardew could appraise that their sturdiness had provided the platform for his attackers to make a difference.
“It’s about having players who can create a moment,” he said. “Even when not playing well we can get a moment that lifts us and gets us a goal. The resilience of the team is really strong. It was a tough game and we came through it. I can’t tell you how important this result is to us.”
Man of the match Jason Puncheon (Crystal Palace)
