Crystal Palace's love affair with late winners

That sickness in the pit of your stomach. That sinking feeling. We’ve all had it. That slow, dawning realisation that after the 5am alarm call, the three-hour train journey – with two cancellations and a rail replacement bus service of course – and the overzealous search on the way into the ground, that it might not turn out to be your day after all.

You reassure yourself with the positives: it’s been a fun day out; you have scored yourself a well-earned point, and maybe ticked off another new ground along the way; the teams around us might drop points too. But in the end, it's only going to be a draw.

The one thing that keeps you going, singing until the end and resisting the urge to beat the crowds back to the station, is that thought gnawing in the back of your mind: ‘Could we get a late goal here…?’

It’s a seed that was planted years ago. ‘You remember, that one time that player did that thing?’ you hastily explain to the grumpy man next to you, realising you’re making little sense, gabbling more in hope than in expectation.

It’s a dangerous thought too. Sometimes you try to will a goal into existence, using up your final reserves of good humour so that when it doesn’t materialise you are far more anguished than if you had just accepted your fate.

But when it does happen, when the net does bulge with seconds remaining, it is like entering a thus-undiscovered state of euphoria reserved only for those who kept the faith.

Some players react with immense cool when it happens, almost the antithesis of the bedlam they have unleashed in the stands. Michael Olise, for example, grinning slyly with his arms outstretched after his 94th-minute winner against West Ham United.

Speaking of players showing their joy against West Ham... any excuse to watch this moment again from Jordan Ayew, against the Hammers at Selhurst on Boxing Day. Now that's a festive feeling!

Others can’t contain their joy. Wilfried Zaha, twisting and turning away from the defender before firing home from distance against Southampton, could barely decide which celebration to deploy to mark the moment and ended up a blur of arms and legs, somehow jumping, running, punching the air and roaring all at once.

There are plenty of examples over the years. David 'Hopkin-looking-to-curl-one' at Wembley, picking out the top corner in the nick of time. Dwight Gayle at Villa Park, doing just the same to boost Palace's quest for survival.

There is Clinton Morrison's fine finish against Sheffield Wednesday, coming off the bench to pounce and secure a vital three points for Palace. Jobi McAnuff and Sean Scannell joined the ranks of the 'super sub', the former scoring a dramatic winner against Brighton & Hove Albion as the Eagles completed a famous turnaround, the latter bagging against Sheffield Wednesday.

There is a certain melancholy that perhaps one of the greatest late strikes came behind closed doors, when Christian Benteke volleyed home the unlikeliest of winners away at Brighton & Hove Albion. The only consolation, as chaos erupted in living rooms across South London, was being able to hear the players and staff going crazy, and Joel Ward’s now-legendary proclamation: ‘Smash and grab, baby!’

Another of our favourites of recent times... take it away, Jean-Philippe Mateta against Leicester City.

And last, but by no means least – one of our favourite goals at Selhurst Park of all-time, as Eddie Nketiah blasted home Palace's latest-ever winning goal in the Premier League back in September 2025 against the reigning champions Liverpool – at that stage undefeated in the season.

Not any more, they weren't.