Hillsborough, May 2, 2010

In my lifetime, there have been a handful of games that have stood out as memorable, the vast majority of which have been included in the countdown we've been posting daily on this very site. So it takes a special kind of match to really get the blood pumping, the heart racing and the sheen of sweat appearing on my brow (yeah, we're still talking about football here, filth-minded buggers) and Hillsborough in 2010 does just that.

Having seen Palace's league position drop a matter of months before thanks to the ten point penalty for going into administration, it became clear that our morale had sunk too. We weren't whipping boys or easy targets by any means but when your good work over a matter of months gets shot down whilst you're flying across the country, oblivious to the penalties being thrown down, it can't be easy to pick yourself up. And so, with that backdrop surrounding us, we slid down the table, trying to keep our head above water at every turn, now under the management of Paul Hart.

The matches before the Wednesday match came and went but it was the last game of the season that loomed large on the horizon. The match would decide who would get relegated into the depths of League One and who would live to fight another day in the Championship - a win for Wednesday and we were doomed, an Eagles victory or a draw and we would leave Hillsborough with our safety in tact.

I traveled to the match on the supporter's coach, arriving at Selhurst at an ungodly hour after a cab journey with a guy that thought I was a player. I did nothing to dissuade him from that assumption, confirming my squad number was 2 and the match was going to be on TV so he should give it a go and see if he could spot me. The tension was there when I arrived at Selhurst, even though some people were laughing and joking when we piled onto the coach [I say coach, it was a bus, but whatever]. The atmosphere going up was great once everyone had woken up and when the coach pulled up near the stadium, the volume had cranked up to 11.

By now, everyone remembers exactly what happened during the match - Calvin almost literally kicked things off when he karate kicked their keeper in the head before an Ambrose corner was whipped into the box for Alan Lee and slam a header into the net much to the delight of the packed Palace end, the opposite side of the ground. It was an unbelievable feeling and one that I hoped would last. Leon Clarke's equaliser after Danny B's fairly silly claims for a free-kick sent the home fans into action and at half-time we were halfway to staying up.

When Scannell's layback to Ambrose was converted and we were 2-1 up, for the first time in my entire Palace supporting life, I was supremely confident. I have no idea why, there was no logic or reason to it, but when he slid on his knees in front of us, I was calm and my head was telling me "we've done it, we're staying up". Even though there was a fair way to go, nothing seemed to stop me from feeling like that. Nothing, that is, til Purse snaffled an equaliser. And soon after that Stern John, who only had to pass the ball to our 20 goal midfielder to confirm the victory, saw his shot cleared off the life. My life was being to pass before my eyes [it was annoyingly short and seemed to focus on that time at Primary School I got smacked in the face with a baseball bat] and I watched in horror as Paddy headed the ball out for a corner when Jules had everything covered.

Thankfully, the whistle went before the corner was taken and the noise coming from the Palace end was deafening. We had done it, we'd staved off relegation despite massive financial problems, a ten point deduction, the loss of the manager and sale of Victor Moses. We had shown fight, grit and passion and we fans had done everything possible to support our club through the hard times. There were so many emotions involved at the final whistle - pride, joy, exhaustion and relief - it gives me goosebumps just thinking about what happened that day in Sheffield and though I would never want to have to stay up on the last day again, this match is definitely one of the best Palace matches ever.

Have a watch of the highlights below and relive the day.

http://youtu.be/Vs-7Kv5Fy0M