It was a different story on this day (12th January) in 1963, as Palace headed to face Brighton & Hove Albion in Arctic conditions across the south of England.
The Glaziers were riding on a high, having beaten Millwall comfortably on Boxing Day – where snow and ice had blighted the afternoon at Selhurst Park.
“The cheers were all for new £10,000 signing Cliff Holton at the start of Boxing Day’s ice-bound skate-ball exhibition,” wrote the Croydon Times the next day, “but at the end the 20,000 crowd gave a great ovation to 11 Palace heroes who overcame treacherous conditions to record, probably, their best win of the season.”
Holton played well but didn’t score. He would have another opportunity just a fortnight later.
The game took some effort to stage, with Brighton spending £1,000 on peat and sand to make the pitch playable. Players and officials worked throughout the week with a squad of labourers, while a mechanical icebreaker was brought in to bust through the most stubborn resistance.
The hosts needed 10,000 fans to turn up to ensure they were in the black after such a huge expense. Through the blizzards and the wind came 11,807, to witness a match which Streatham News described as “by necessity a comedy of errors.”
“Although the ice-capped Goldstone Ground nestled under 25 tons of sand and seven tons of peat on Saturday,” they wrote, “the sunny Brighton posters rang true for the yellow-gloved Crystal Palace team who snatched their first away victory since October 13.”
Peter Burridge scored the opener for Palace, before they were pegged back by a Brighton equaliser. Up stepped new signing Holton to find the winner – his first goal for Palace – and see the points return to south London.