EAGLES columnist SAM ROSS has a look back at a season which promised so much for Crystal Palace at one stage but ultimately ended up finishing a bit flat.

SATURDAY’S 2-1 defeat to Cardiff City saw the Eagles end the season in disappointing fashion with a winless run of nine games and most Palace fans were glad to see the campaign finish.

In fact, to most the season has finished at the end of March when a play-off place was unreachable and thoughts were already turning to what players needed to be brought in over the summer.

It was quite fitting the season ended against Cardiff, a team who have been involved in the high and low points of our 2011-12.

There is no doubt the Carling Cup run was the highlight of the year, especially the 2-1 win up at Old Trafford.

That game had everything - a great atmosphere (in the away end at least), fast tempo led by Wilfried Zaha, goal of the season from Darren Ambrose, superb tactical management from Dougie Freedman and above all the arrogance of United was undone by sheer commitment and a touch of quality from the Eagles.

Prior to the game at Old Trafford, or before anyone was really thinking about going on a decent cup run, Palace were flying high in the league and October was a great time to be an Eagles fan.

After being the first team to beat Brighton at their brand new Amex Stadium at the end of September, a fact which will happily live long in their history books, Palace went on to enjoy their most successful month in October. Having just secured a quarter-final spot in the League Cup after a home win over Southampton, the Eagles were third in the table in a month they went unbeaten.

Freedman couldn’t do much wrong at this point but it was no coincidence throughout November, awaiting the tie at Old Trafford on the final day of the month, Palace's league form dipped because of the distraction of the cup.

All of a sudden we dropped from third to 10th by the end of November but that went largely unnoticed in the build up to the quarter-final.

Nobody seemed to care – it was all about the United game.

But a lot of fans, including myself, would have sacrificed the dip in form for that quarter-final win.

The Cardiff penalty shootout was painful to watch but the effort from the players was superb and despite the loss I was a very proud Palace fan that night.

After the disappointment of not reaching Wembley there was the prospect of a play-off push but a poor run of results towards the end of March, which continued until the end of the season, put an end to that.

One of the most pleasing aspects this season has been the youngsters coming through and I already can't wait to see what Jon Williams, or Joniesta, will produce next season, while the future of Nathaniel Clyne and Wilfried Zaha looks uncertain.

For me it is simple - Clyne is ready for the top flight and Zaha isn’t.

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