Crystal Palace 2 Oldham Athletic 0

This cup has been down-talked, down-graded and decimated over the seasons through the contempt of richer, higher league rivals but to finish in the final 16 of 92, is an honour the Latics should cherish - no matter what may be to come
by the end of this season. And that spirit has been constantly epitomised through Dowie's insistence that this cup was a serious matter - every team selection proved so.

In previous seasons (under other managers) fringe players have usually been introduced into the team, but Dowie proved the Wenger's, the Venables and the Keegan's of this world wrong, as they missed out on round 4, by sending out his best side possible every time.

Against Notts County, the Latics worked out a tricky victory and possibly should have won by a better margin than 3-2. A royal battle ensued at Pride Park, but it was the blues who walked away with an extra-time 2-1 victory after hanging in there when it got tough. Upton Park became the round 3 destination and the Latics more than matched Dowie's former club, West Ham, as they piled further woe onto job-threatened Hammers boss Glenn Roeder. That set up another away clash as the Latics were pitted against Crystal Palace - meaning a trip to an unlucky ground for the blues. And unlucky it would become again as the Latics failed to produce the sparkling performances of earlier rounds.

The visitors did start brightly but then several turning points hit the blues one after another. After a lively start and an Eyres half chance, the confidence evaporated along with the vocality of the away support and major uncertainty crept into the side. And then the first mistake came, as Killen slipped on a spongy surface to set up Palace's opener.

Palace's first came about as the Latics struggled to break out of defence; something the visitors have done so effectively this season. Instead, Killen found himself pinned inside his own half with 3 Palace players nearby and no
option to clear upfield. On deciding to play back to Pogliacomi (it says it all when your forward is in RB, playing to the GK) the former Man City striker slipped and gifted Palace the ball. Looking to exploit the mistake, the hosts
managed to work in a cross in from the left edge of the box and Black rose above a motionless Hall to cleverly nod home a looping header. 0-1.

The Latics looked weak and frail from the blow and within seconds Rihilati found Wright, as Hall again struggled to keep up. Wright had only Pogi to beat but with too much space and angle to cover, the save was made slightly easier for the Latics stopper. However if things weren't bad already, disaster was about to strike as turning point number 2 arrived.

With barely 18 minutes gone, the last thing the visitors needed was an injury but Hill never rose from the deck after going down in a heap. The result turned out to be a broken leg. This was a devastating blow for the Latics captain and
the side's defensive rock. After that heads appeared to drop and diabolical passing, lacklustre movement and a void of ingenuity and ideas was all too apparent.

The team looked a shadow of their former self and Palace must have been
wondering where the unbeaten travelling Oldham Athletic had gone. As the visitors looked nervous Palace began to take control. The Eagles asked more of the questions and any possession the blues did have was often down blind alleys. Palace always seemed to be in the right place at the right time and even the run of the ball was falling kindly.

However, the Latics were fortunate not to be another goal behind on 23 as Berahall almost turned a clearance into the roof of his own net. To Palace's credit, the home side knew that they couldn't give an inch and with complete resolution the defence shut out the visitors.

As the Latics have done so to many-an-opposition this season, Palace only allowed the odd long-ranger and pot-shot and that was it. Never could Oldham get a grip in midfield and put a foot on the ball. Rarely did the forwards get in behind and it took until the 30th minute for the Latics to muster another real attempt for goal, as Baudet powered Killen's lay-off marginally wide from 30 yards.

The problems weren't easy to highlight for the visitors as Palace were playing well, but one stark problem was that the midfield was void of anything. Sheridan went missing too often and when he should have tackled, he let his man run on past him. Add to this Baudet, who rarely knew where to put himself and when he had the ball his passing was often atrocious.

Even wing-backs Clegg and Eyres looked scared to cross their own half way line whilst Armstrong had been forced into defence to cover for Hill. Therefore a massive hole had opened up around the centre circle for Palace to control. Every 2nd ball was mopped up by the hosts and within minutes of each other, Mullins had 2 dangerous long-rangers at goal; one which flew inches wide another that Pogi had to fingertip over. The visitors just couldn't get into it.

As the half ran towards a close, a 3rd and final major turning point occurred. As Andrews raced onto a loose ball, Granville won the first challenge and proceeded to chase the spinning ball down the wing. In an attempt to win a 2nd
challenge, the Palace defender launched himself at the ball and narrowly missed pole-axing Killen with both feet. The referee, Chris Foy, amazingly appeared happy with the challenge, but his assistant flagged furiously and proceeded to
describe the brutalness of the challenge. A red card was the outcome.

Ironically, contentious decisions are not supposed to be displayed on TV's within the ground but Palace officials made the mistake of having Sky Sports on during half time. This showed the replay and the severity of the challenge.

How often do we see it with the Latics though - against 10 men, the blues with 11 often capitulate. And nothing changed as the sending off became more of a hindrance than a help. Palace resorted to a 4-3-2 and still appeared to have more men as they closed the Latics down with ease. Indeed, with the referee not having given the decision, he proceeded to become an 11th man for Palace as he evened the game up.

The hosts won nearly every decision and the Latics looked to have their feet stuck in quicksand. Chasing the game, they almost levelled on 54 as Killen arrowed a cross for unmarked Baudet at the far post. Just needing to hit the target, towering Baudet wasn't tall enough as he desperately failed to connect by an inch. However, with every push forward the hosts were now leaving themselves looking perilously short at the back. And without Hill, that wasn't the last thing to do.

Unbelievably, every punt from a Palace defender found a lone Adebola or Black as the Latics just couldn't get the run of the ball. And on 60, they almost allowed this tactic to put Palace two goals clear as Berahall was the slowest to step up and Adebola burst through. Pogi closed the angle well and saved to low to his right, as Adebola looked to place past him into the far corner. On 72, again a counter saw the visitors desperately short for cover, but this time Pogi claimed easily as a Palace player hesitated and over-ran the ball into the keepers hands.

The warning signs had been there though and eventually the Eagle swooped for a final time. The final nail was hammered into the coffin when an Eyres free-kick rebounded off Palace defenders and Lourenco tried running through 3 players. To no avail, Palace stormed into the Latics half with 3 on 2, the 2 worryingly being Armstrong and Sheridan, and worked the ball superbly to send Black clean through.

This time, the hosts made sure and Black fired a cracker past Pogi into the far corner. 0-2. The hosts could do no more and the game slowly died a death. Too much had been missing from the Latics performance. They'd rolled over and been tickled and although taking a loss on the chin sometimes does no harm, the manner of defeat will live on and hurt.

Every player bar Pogliacomi could have seen criticism levelled at them as the
side showed too many nerves and were too stand-offish. Such a lack of tackles played straight into Palace's hands and became our own downfall.

Despite this, it was good to see the real Latics fans stay behind and clap the players off the field. It wasn't hard to tell from the lack of vocal support and disgraceful parting comments like, "What are you clapping that trash for?" that the proper loyal supporters were sat with muppets who probably had only travelled along the tube to be there. If you're going to support the Latics - and they do have a right to - at least bloody show it. It may have made the difference.

And for those that need it explaining, that so called "trash" took us unbeaten away to December 3rd and to the 4th round of the Worthington Cup. Although the side let us down on this rare occassion, it seemed no surprise that yet again there are some Latics fans that fail to surprise with their shallowness and fickleness of their support.