MARTIN SAMUEL

CRYSTAL PALACE’S players slumped to the ground as if they had lost a cup final. And in many ways they had.

For more than an hour of last night’s match, they led and had risen to mid-table, a creditable, safe 13th in the league. Now they were down among the dead men again, returned to the relegation zone, a point adrift of 17th-placed Southampton.

Nemanja Matic’s scorching halfvolley from the edge of the area had ripped away even the lonely point they had hoped to salvage, and in stoppage time, too.

Two-nil down, 3-2 up. Manchester United fans had forgotten nights like this existed, it has been so long since they came from behind to win when losing at the interval. They used to be famous for it. Not even a 3-0 deficit at Tottenham could contain them.

Lately they have become infamous for meek surrenders or tepid draws. They have failed to win their last 28 league games if chasing a half-time reverse. So this was a throwback to the days of Sir Alex Ferguson when United, as one commentator had it, always scored. It may not make much difference this season, for the title is gone, but a year from now this may be regarded as a watershed victory under Jose Mourinho.

He looked furious with the second Crystal Palace goal after 48 minutes, his opponents thinking quicker than his slumbering players, taking a swift free-kick and racing away unchallenged. By the end, he was all smiles.

He got the second-half response his scowls demanded, although a less frightened team than Palace may have been better at shutting him out. From the moment United began chasing the game in earnest, Palace’s defence appeared an accident waiting to happen.

The threat of relegation does that to a team. Having lost late against Tottenham, the fear of a repeat was plain. It was January 13 when Palace last won, and this will do nothing for their confidence.

As for romelu Lukaku, nobody was complaining about him scoring against the little teams last night, except perhaps