The left winger was the man to score the two extra-time goals which won the 1969 Football League Cup Final for Third Division Swindon against First Division Arsenal at Wembley, after all.
Indeed, Rogers’ second goal that day – in which, in the 119th minute, he somehow found the stamina to sprint onto a through-ball, round Bob Wilson and slot into the unguarded net – was to prove a sign of things to come in Palace colours.
Rogers would sign for Bert Head’s First Division Palace side in 1972 and went on to score 30 times in 83 appearances, including twice in that remarkable 5-0 win over Manchester United in December of the same year.
“It was great for the fans, I thought, because Palace had never done anything like that in all their time in the First Division, had they?” Rogers smiled, speaking to Palace TV on the goal's 50th anniversary, back in 2023.
“That day ranks right up the top. It’s probably my best overall game I’ve ever played. That will never go away, that day.”
Yet the Palace goal for which charismatic winger is likely to be best remembered came on this precise date 53 years ago (Saturday, February 17th, 1973): Don Rogers’ Goal of the Season against Stoke City.
