Roy’s crumb of comfort in a damp squib
ALL smoke and no fire, all context and no content. Just a weird and wonderful rivalry played out in a wasteful and woeful game that Roy Hodgson somehow, perhaps predictably, quite enjoyed. He has always had a certain fondness for these stalemates and what they might say about a well-arranged defence. Palace were solid tactically, they got a point that they needed and they showed progress. The same could be said for Chris Hughton. But on the more primitive desires of goals and entertainment, this was a game that fell someway short. The occasion did what it could to make up for it, at least for those who made it in, with a significant number of ticketholding Palace fans denied entry to the game and reports of ticketless fans getting through. Some of those travelling who were admitted seemed to enjoy it all, between the regular bangs of smoke bombs. Yet for the neutral, there was little to relish about a fixture loaded with history yet precious few chances. This was not the battle of 1976, when Alan Mullery, the Brighton manager, was showered with hot coffee by the crowd and allegedly rated the entire Palace side at around a fiver. This was not the grubby madness of 2013, when a member of Brighton entourage left an unpleasant surprise on the Palace dressing room floor. It was none of the above, this first top-division encounter between the sides since 1981. But it did have merit, mostly for Palace. It showed they have developed, given it was their first point from home this season and a first clean sheet since May. That is down to manager Hodgson as much as anything. He is turning it around. ‘For us, we knew what we had to do to make certain we didn’t go away empty-handed,’ he said. ‘I’m just a bit disappointed we couldn’t capitalise more on the moments in the game where we had good possession. ‘I’m satisfied with it. It was a fair result and I’m particularly pleased to keep a clean sheet. It’s an extra point away from home.’ But there was a sense that Palace might have done more, when you consider their line-up. With Christian Benteke’s return after a knee injury, he made his first start for two months, allowing Hodgson his first sustained look at the attacking quadrant of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Wilfried Zaha, Andros Townsend and Benteke. That is an attack that can aspire to more than draws. It was Zaha and Benteke who had the best chances, in the 14th minute, when Benteke’s shot was saved by Matthew Ryan and Zaha put the rebound too close to the keeper. Thereafter, they offered very little going forward and Brighton probably shaded the chances. For Hughton, they remain unbeaten at home since the first game of the season, a fine achievement in an extremely impressive campaign. ‘Clubs will be aware of the start we’ve had,’ Hughton said. ‘That’s down to good momentum we’ve had in the past few seasons here. Clubs will be aware of that.’