Well, that was something. A 6-goal thriller. A match that I should be happy that Palace got a draw in because they were 0-2 down at halftime and twice had to come from behind. Yet I'm frustrated because despite Mateta getting a hat-trick, he missed an absolute sitter at the very end that would have given us all 3 points. For a team that prides itself on its home support, the first half was extremely disappointing - the away section was clearly louder, indicative of a very sloppy start to the game by Palace. But the second half was so much better - the crowd was rocking (particularly the Holmesdale Road end), and I think would have erupted had we got that winner. As for the stadium itself - there's no sugar-coating this, it's a dump. Kind of run-down, kind of past its best, kind of small, not in the best neighborhood, weirdly right next to a big Sainsbury's. I was seated about halfway between the half-way line and the goal-line in the south stand - among a lot of older season ticket holders - and had a pretty good view of the game, although frustratingly I was seated too far back so that the video board was blocked by the stadium roof. You'd think it wouldn't be too much trouble to put another monitor up that we could actually see what was going on - especially with the increasing reliance on video in the game (there were a lot of VAR checks during this game). But a big bonus is that I had a couple of empty seats next to me, so I was able to stretch out - it would have been very cramped otherwise. Would I come back here? I think so - the atmosphere makes up for any shortcomings.
