Dowie enters Valley of the damned

No wonder then for fans of Palace, Southampton and Norwich, this must have felt like football's longest day, spent at various points in the asylum, the pleasure dome and the torture chamber.

For the neutral though, it was simply the best ride of the season.

Has there ever been a last afternoon of a top-flight campaign when fortunes have fluctuated so wildly that, at different moments during the 90 minutes, each of the four relegation candidates had a spell where they'd come up for air out of the bottom three?

Can there have been anyone at the four grounds without a radio? So when the Charlton fans tried to tease their visitors after five minutes with a chant that Norwich had gone one up at Fulham, nobody was biting.

Actually, though, the intrigue began even before the start when you could almost hear the mutterings of 'conspiracy' from the Palace fans when Radio Five kept bringing news of suspiciously end-of-term team selections - no Yakubu for Portsmouth at

West Brom and an under-strength Manchester United line-up at Southampton. Oh yes, and Delia was rallying the troops in the stands at Fulham. This spelt trouble.

For Palace, there was trouble - and it came in the shape of the opposition fans not the Charlton players. Sometimes, you forget the tribal edge to less heralded London derbies but there was a rare old fervour among the Addicks' faithful, as if sending their old Selhurst Park landlords down might somehow make amends for their abject end-of-season slump.

Some regulars reckoned the locals hadn't been more animated all season. Which was just as well since, without them, Charlton may have been even more somnolent than they were for much of a game which offered up engrossing entertainment but ropey football. Their opener from Bryan Hughes came quite against the run of play.

The oddity about Palace's last stand was that, once behind, they seemed to become afterthoughts in the survival battle - along with Norwich, who crumbled pitifully after starting the day in pole position - until three dramatic fluctuations of Fortune. Jonathan Fortune, that is.

The Charlton man's woeful defending gifted the visitors the two goals, for substitute Dougie Freedman and Johnson, which suddenly offered a tantalising glimpse of safety.

Yet 'Survival Sunday', as Sky Sports had inevitably dubbed it, then took on the feel of 'Suicide Sunday' for Palace.

For though Dowie had remarked how his " blameless " players had "deserved better than they got", they got their just desserts because of another of those maddeningly careless lapses which have blighted their season. "A silly set-piece we gave away," shrugged Dowie. But this wasn't bad luck - at this stage of the campaign when nerve counted most, it was almost criminal.

Jerome Thomas was hemmed in near the left corner flag and in no position to threaten but Mikele Leigertwood clambered all over him to give away a quite unnecessary free-kick.

From Thomas's delivery, fickle Fortune headed home unmolested.

Dowie could have bemoaned his lot but didn't. He felt Fortune should have got sent off for the handball which led to the penalty but still had no real complaints. That's because, really, he must have known the table didn't lie. Palace's spirit had never been in question, only their quality.

On that score, there was precious little to choose between any of that mediocre but feisty bottom four.

But Dowie offered gracious applause to Robson, whose masterminding of Albion's escape, was such a considerable feat that it may even stop folk thinking of him as a great player who couldn't cut it as a manager.

Will we go on to think of Dowie as a decent player who became a great manager? Just as he has been all season, a refreshing presence, unremittingly positive amid all the prophets of doom, he struck the right upbeat note afterwards.

He envisioned a future in the Championship with Johnson, his best youngsters such as Wayne Routledge and, most importantly for Palace, with himself. "It can be damaging to sit back and reflect," he said. "We've got to build for the future now and make sure we start like a greyhound next season."

Wasn't it "bouncebackability" that Palace needed now, smiled one questioner. "Yeah, some stupid idiot made that expression up - me," responded Dowie good-naturedly.

Actually, though, it isn't " bouncebackability" that Palace need - after their three previous relegations from the Premiership, we know they've always had that - so much as " stickability". If they can hold on to their talented manager, Dowie could just be the glue.