That was extremely tough to take last weekend.
After having more men on the pitch we somehow managed to come away with nothing when in all seriousness, we should have got at least a point.
We cannot hide from the fact that we were a little naive when it came to playing with an player advantage. Following James Milner received his marching orders, the way we played up to that point I was convinced we would continue to give Liverpool plenty more to think about.
Unfortunately, quite the opposite happened as Jurgen Klopp’s men took the game to Palace and gave us a torrid time for the remainder of the game.
The decisive goal was very hard to take. Perhaps it was more frustration that we had thrown the game away but there really was minimal contact from Damien Delaney on Christian Beneteke, and the way he went down for a player of his size was very disappointing.
We have to accept that diving is part and parcel of modern day football and there will be occasions when we will fall foul to such techniques and maybe times when it benefits us. It does not mean that I have to like it though.
The equaliser was an absolute gift of a goal which was the catalyst for our demise. For a team with such fragile confidence, the unfortunate slip by Alex McCarthy was ill timed but it is once again that position that caused us the problem. I really do not know what the answer is at the moment.
Wayne Hennessey was superb in the beginning part of the season and saved us some vital points, but he went through a blip, and I think he might pay for that in the upcoming games. McCarthy looked to be going out on loan in January but that did not materialise, and although he made ‘that’ slip on Sunday, he did pull off some decent saves which kept us in the game.
I expect Hennessey to regain the number one jersey but we do have a club legend waiting in the wings if Alan Pardew wants to call on our favourite Argentine, Julian Speroni. It is a tough call on whether I would throw him in at this stage of the season having not played one minute of competitive football so far. There is no doubting his goalkeeping abilities but I would hate to see him making a mistake that could cost us, particularly in the cup. It certainly is a dilemma Pardew faces in the coming weeks and one that I would not like to call.
Having just witnessed our FA Cup journey continue in dramatic fashion, I am sure I am not alone in being over the moon about it. Every Palace fan would have watched the game last night in expectation that Palace could make it to the semi-finals and in the end, we managed it courtesy of goals from Yohan Cabaye and Frazier Campbell.
There was a stage that I thought it was not going to be our night, as the Reading goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi was in inspired form keeping out several efforts on goal by the Eagles.
After the drama of last weekend where Beneteke took a tumble and won a penalty, last night we were on the right end of a ‘soft’ penalty. Although there was contact from Jake Cooper the penalty was awarded which had it been given against Palace, I would have been absolutely livid.
It was given by Premier League official Mike dean and Cabaye was lucky his hit the ball hard enough as Habsi did not quite get enough behind the ball. I did not care how it went in, as long as it did!
I have no preference who we face in the semi-final. On our day we can give any side a run for their money, so bring on Wembley!
It is going to make my weekend one of the better ones in recent weeks, now I just need England to win their Six Nations game!
