An International Break and a Honeymoon
November for me was a pretty unusual month. After getting married in June this year, my wife and I decided to leave our Honeymoon until November, so we could get a bit of winter sun. There was also another international break, meaning there were only 3 Palace games, 2 of which were away, with the only home game being Everton on the 11th. As we were flying off to Tunisia on the 10th that meant I would miss this match. So the only game I get to would be Luton away, which was a must for me, especially as my son Mark had never been there. Mind you I wasn't sure how this was going to go down with the Wife as it was her birthday, but she does knows how I feel about football and Palace.
So as it was I didn't travel to Burnley, but was really pleased with the result. It was good to see both Schlupp and Mitchell get goals and for us to keep a clean sheet.
Our next game was at home to Everton, which as I said, I was away on honeymoon so did not attend. It was the first home game I have missed in ages. Although I didn't watch MOTD or any of the highlights, from what I have heard, we did not deserve to lose. It may not have started great with Everton scoring in the first minute but from what I can gather Eze was back to his best making a great run from his own half then getting taken down in the box, then stepping up to beat Pickford from the penalty spot.
Unfortunately they came out the second half and went 2-1 up within the first 5 minutes, but with the clock running down Edouard was able to bring the scores back level. Both sides tried their best to get the win, making for an exciting finish to the game. But then Everton went on to score a third goal with only about 5 mins left of the game. This didn't seem to dampen things down and with an extra 7 minutes to be played we tried everything to get back level but to no avail.
So then I was back in a very cold England, driving to Luton, thinking it must be about 30 years since I was last there. I do love the older grounds, they make it feel more like an away day and I think the atmosphere is a lot better than at some of the newer fancy stadiums.
I thought we started the game well, in the very first minute Olise went very close with a shot from just outside the box. Then 5 minutes later Edouard had a shot from inside the box that was saved by the keeper. Things went on and although we seemed to have the better run of play and at least another 3 or 4 chances where we could have scored. The first half ended 0-0. We just can't seem to get a goal in the first half of a game.
Then with just 2 minutes of the second half gone, Eze went down with an injury to his Achilles and was replaced Ayew. That was another addition to the injury list but things were to get even worse. About 5 minutes later Doucoure was fouled by Osho and had to be stretchered off after lengthy treatment. We now know that it's a long term injury. We wish him well and a speedy recovery. Will Hughes came on in his place.
The two injuries completely changed the game as Luton seemed to up their game quite a bit. Edouard had the ball in the net only for it to be ruled offside by VAR. With only about 15 minutes of the game left to play, Luton won a corner which was headed on to the back post where the ball was poked in to the net making it 1-0 to them.
A couple of minutes later Joel Ward puts in a lovely ball for Olise to bang in with his left foot from the right side of the box to the top left hand corner of the net, making it 1-1. At this stage I would have gladly taken the draw as I think they were playing the better football. But with about 10 minutes left we were undone by a very good move of theirs. A really good ball in from the right hand side saw Brown get his foot to it and poke in from very close range giving Luton the lead.
Although there were 13 minutes of added time and we tried the best we could to get an equaliser, it was to no avail and the game ended 2-1 for Luton's first home win of the Season.
So now we have December to look forward to with some very hard fixtures but an ever growing injury list, lets just hope things get better I'm sure they will.
Be Loud
Be Proud
Be Palace
Dave May
Chairman CPFC DSA
