Crystal Palace 2 Huddersfield Town 0

Premier League

Saturday 30 March 2019

good Luka

The context 

One of a fast diminishing number of League grounds left for John and I to visit. We’d seen Palace over the years at more away games than many of their own fans, but getting tickets here became difficult after they got promoted in 2013. Today’s traditional kick off time – and visitors who were all but relegated – now proved our salvation. 

The history

Welcome to SE25. We’d somehow imagined Croydon would evoke Terry and June’s avenue, with perhaps a glimpse of Captain Darling courting his fianceé Doris before representing the Gentlemen at cricket. Reality proved rather less idyllic. Today’s bland conurbation slinks hopefully around greater London’s more sophisticated coat-tails, emulating only its least attractive features; one of few truly historic buildings, Reeves’ Furniture Store, was destroyed by rioters in 2011.       

Things used to be very different. Victorian Croydon’s population increased fourteen-fold in just sixty years, and 250,000 people lived locally by the time Britain’s first international airport opened at Purley Way. Workers from the Trojan motor plant shared these quiet suburbs with City stockbrokers, attracted to the town because of its convenient position between London and Brighton.

East Croydon railway station had opened during 1841. Extension platforms – known until 1898 as New Croydon – handled London Bridge services until a new terminus, South Croydon, could be built. Most suburban passengers traveled via South Croydon; the eminent composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, whose house was at nearby Aldwick, unfortunately collapsed there in 1912 and subsequently died.         

East would be extended several more times before 1900. Constantly increasing demands on capacity reflected the town’s growth; six substantial platforms were eventually built, servicing hundreds of trains every day. More recent redevelopment has, however, sadly managed to obliterate all trace of some elegantly simple station buildings originally designed by noted railway architect David Mocatta.

Croydon Aerodrome was treated with greater respect. Modern redelopment has obliterated its mighty runways; some well-proportioned historic buildings survive, however, including the world’s first control tower and a luxurious hotel from which Imperial Airways passengers once departed to four continents. 100,000 people saw Lindbergh visit with the Spirit of St Louis in 1927, three years before Amy Johnson set off from here on her epic flight to Australia.    

Grand public spaces catered for residents’ leisure time. Crystal Palace Park had been laid out during 1851, named after Joseph Paxton’s enormous cast-iron framed gallery – relocated to Penge Common after the 1851 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park – whose massive windows contained 300,000 panes of glass. It formed the centrepiece of extensive public gardens boasting a concert hall, maze, ornamental lakes and more than thirty life-size dinosaur models. 

Football also arrived. When Kennington Oval’s modest capacity led eventually to the 1893 and 1894 FA Cup Finals taking place away from London, astute local businessmen recognised that big money could be made by staging these lucrative matches. They redeveloped a natural bowl-shaped arena – where the National Sports Centre is now  – which hosted every Final between 1895 and 1914. Its record attendance of nearly 122,000 saw Aston Villa beat Sunderland in 1913.

The ground had three small seated stands but facilities for ordinary spectators left much to be desired. Most fans stood on open grass banking that soon became muddy in wet weather, while many couldn’t even see the pitch. A professional club was nonetheless formed to play there; they drew ready support from the district’s expanding suburbs, and eventually joined Division Three (South).

The Crystal Palace spectacularly burned down not long before World War II. Its eponymous team had already relocated three times by then. They initially took refuge at Herne Hill Velodrome when Crystal Palace Park was requisitioned for military use, then moved to defunct amateur side Croydon Common’s former home beside Selhurst station before finally obtaining a brand new site – Selhurst Park – in 1924.   

The journey 

cross purposes

This grey corner of a leafy county feels inaccessible even from the rest of London. Stations triangulate Selhurst Park; going by train wasn’t practical today, though, so we instead confronted urban Surrey’s infamous traffic. Everything actually went smoothly enough – that is, until I left my car on someone’s drive I hadn’t actually rented and then got fined £90 after forgetting to pay the Dartford Crossing toll. 

Flesh and wine

no frills

Tangling with the Met had held us up for thirty irritating minutes. There was consequently no chance to sample any of Thornton Heath’s delightfully tatty fast food shops, but we did at least squeeze in some drinking time. Online reviews promised that the Clifton on Holmesdale Road didn’t welcome tourists; it indeed proved a proper no-frills, old-school boozer – I even got calleed “geezer” – that soon helped smooth our ruffled feathers.  

The game

battling

Relegation battles don’t often produce flowing football. As the visitors had won just three games all season – scoring six goals since Christmas – only one team was realistically battling in this one. The first half generally lived down to expectations, although Huddersfield could have been in front but for a tame Chris Lowe back-post header and alert positioning from Vicente Guaita.

half time

Palace woke up after half time. They went ahead from Luka Milivojevic’s penalty when Juninho Bacuna tripped Wilfried Zaha in the box. Ben Hamer had already saved well from Zaha, whose finishing this afternoon verged on wastefulness; Andros Townsend also came close before Patrick van Aanholt made sure with a crisp cross-shot two minutes from time. This defeat was enough to relegate poor Huddersfield remarkably early in the season.

Teams and goals

Palace: Guaita, Wan-Bissaka, Tomkins, Dann, van Aanholt, Meyer (McArthur 45), Milivojelic, Schlupp, Townsend (Kouyate 80), Batshuayi (Benteke 73), Zaha. Unused subs: Ward, Hennessey, J.Ayew, Kelly.

Huddersfield: Hamer, Smith, Schindler, Kongolo, Durm, Bacuna (Williams 80), Hogg, Mooy, Pritchard (Stankovic 94), Lowe (Kachunga 80), Grant. Unused subs: Coleman, Hadergjonaj, Daly, Rowe.  

Goals: Palace: Milvojevic 76 (pen), van Aanholt 88

Attendance: 25,193.