THEY could have played this match on Valentine’s Day in Venice, strewn red roses across the pitch and piped Barry White songs non-stop across the PA system and the occasion would not have absorbed one drop of romance.
Familiarity bred apathy at Selhurst Park as Crystal Palace and Preston North End met for the third time in 11 days in an FA Cup fourth-round replay that possessed all the magic of a botched card trick. Despite reduced admission prices, the crowd of 7,356 was the lowest of the season by 10,000. One side of the stadium was not even open and this had the feel of a contest with a quarter of something vital — soul, perhaps — missing.
Nights such as this are a reminder that while a few FA Cup ties every year fire the imagination and attract attention as feverish as in times past, the public’s enthusiasm for the venerable competition is more selective these days.
Iain Dowie, the Palace manager, said that he was surprised at the turnout, although there was no lack of appetite on his part. He was clearly upset to be out of the competition. “We treated it with 100 per cent commitment,” he said.
Still, he accentuated the positive. “It’s not too doom and gloom. We can crack on now in the league,” he said. Palace are a point ahead of Preston in the Coca-Cola Championship and both are in the play-offs places.
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Daniele Dichio, the Preston forward, set up a home tie against Coventry City or Middlesbrough, who play this evening, taking advantage of dismal defending to score a late winner that helped to extend his team’s unbeaten run to 23 matches. Dichio had ended a less desirable streak — no goals since August — with a header from a set-piece in the first half that cancelled out Darren Ward’s opener.
“His contribution has been first class,” Billy Davies, the Preston manager, said. “He works his socks off.”
The home team took the lead on 26 minutes, Ward bundling Jobi McAnuff’s corner over the line. Earlier, McAnuff had been the victim of a tackle by Matt Hill in the penalty area that resembled what happens when a twig meets a buzz saw. Paul Armstrong, the referee, saw nothing amiss.
Andrew Johnson, the Palace striker, rose to prominence last season but his profile, like that of his club, has dipped this term, although he is the team’s top scorer with 12 goals in 25 matches. “He worked hard, got in good areas, a couple of great little runs, but we didn’t pick out the final pass,” Dowie said.
Johnson has not played for England since last May, but the presence of Tord Grip, assistant to Sven-Göran Eriksson, the England head coach, in the stands last night was evidence that he is not out of contention for the World Cup finals.
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That said, perhaps it was indicative that Eriksson sent his deputy, although it proved a shrewd move. It was such an unedifying evening that the Swede might have left half an hour before the end rather than his customary ten minutes.
CRYSTAL PALACE (4-4-2): G Kiraly — E Boyce, D Ward, M Hudson, G Borrowdale (sub: W Andrews, 90min) — J McAnuff, B Watson, A Riihilahti, M Reich (sub: T Soares, 90) — A Johnson, D Freedman (sub: J Macken, 73). Substitutes not used: J Speroni, G Wilson. Booked: Hudson.
PRESTON NORTH END (4-4-2): C Nash — T Mears, Y Mawene, C Lucketti, M Hill — C Sedgwick, B O’Neil (sub: D Hibbert, 87), P McKenna, L Neal (sub: D Nugent, 75) — P Agyemang, D Dichio. Substitutes not used: W Beattie, G Ward, A Parillon.
Referee: P Armstrong.