SA’s Essay: no problems against Palace – until they scored that is

Malcolm Dawson writes……..David Corner came out to do the half time draw and I said to the bloke behind me how it must be galling to be remembered by many for one moment of indecisiveness, one error of judgement. I was reminded of David Corner on Saturday when PvA’s failure to hit row Z cost us a point. It must be especially galling when there was a missed penalty in that same match but few talk about that as the moment that cost us a trophy.

So at the end of the season will we talk about van Aanholt’s error against West Ham and forget about Jermain Defoe’s missed opportunities. If we stay up this season will we look back at Fabio Borini’s fantastic strike as a moment that saved us from going down or will we see this match as two points dropped that cost us Premier League survival? This was a case of quiet optimism at half time after a reasonable first 45 but resignation in the second that here was another missed opportunity. Those two young lads who sit alongside me learned a real football lesson today. Never leave before the end no matter how down you might be. There will always be the possibility of a twist in the tail. And so it proved today.

If we do go down then I’ll think how bad we were against Norwich, especially if they finish a point or two above us. This evening we showed flashes but also defensive frailties that have been there all season and which Sam is supposed to be sorting out. Can we get out of this mess with Defoe ploughing a lone furrow up front? Not in my view but it’s the manager’s that counts. Here’s how he saw the Palace game in his post match e-mail to M Salut and a few other red and white stalwarts.

Jake's take on Big Sam
Jake’s take on Big Sam

SUNDERLAND 2 CRYSTAL PALACE 2

Dear Colin

I think there was no problem in the game until they scored and then when we had to take Jan Kirchhoff off.

We didn’t keep our composure when we came back out for the second half and I’m disappointed with some of the decisions that have gone against us.

Fortunately, we rescued a point with an outstanding goal that I feel should have been the winner, however, because of certain decisions we’ve ended up with a draw.

It’s all credit to the Lads for coming back into it, we went a goal down on Saturday and took nothing from the game, but tonight we’ve taken a point.

Fabio Borini’s goal was an absolute wonder goal, the best I’ve seen in a long time. A goal like that should get us three points, but unfortunately it didn’t.

We’re out of the bottom three for the first time, which is where we want to be, but we’ve still points to gain on our games played. I hope that’s a psychological boost for the Lads, there are teams around us still to play and we need to see what happens. Everyone needs results and we must keep our nerve.

I’m glad to see Dame N’Doye get off the mark with his goal, but I thought we should have had another in the first half with Wahbi Khazri’s free kick.

We need a result against Southampton, every game we play away from home we have to be on top form and be more clinical in front of goal to try and get a result.

Thanks for your support,

Sam Allardyce

Jake: 'one point nee good - inevitable that Wickham would come and do that'
Jake: ‘one point nee good – inevitable that Wickham would come and do that’
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