Palace were marooned in the third tier, and the draw had not been kind to them: Leeds United, who just six months earlier had narrowly lost to Bayern Munich in the European Cup final, at Elland Road.
But in football, isn’t anything supposed to be possible? It certainly felt that way under Malcolm Allison at the time. That was his genius: it was impossible not to be caught up in his self-assurance and joviality; his boisterous nature wasn’t an affront to reality or a hubristic expression of overconfidence but an invitation to dream big and stand tall.
The FA Cup run of 1975/76 was a sporting visualisation of the unending self-belief of Allison’s side.
Palace took the game to the favourites, in no small part down to Peter Taylor’s magnificence, and were very much in the contest, but the conventional wisdom was that Leeds would snatch the result eventually.
Then Taylor’s free-kick found the head of Dave Swindlehurst, and suddenly the shock of the round was well and truly on. Division Three Palace had triumphed, and the result flattered Leeds.
Next up came Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, beaten in a rollercoaster five-goal thriller.
Sunderland were swatted aside in the quarter-finals, setting up a last four showdown with Southampton. Allison’s side had reached the semi-finals for the first time in the club’s history, and had become the first third tier team to do so.
They came agonisingly close to victory in a difficult game, but ultimately fell short. But what a ride.