Football FanCast columnist Alex Dimond reflects on Crystal Palace 2-1 home defeat on Saturday and is hopeful they won't get stage fright come Tuesday night.

You know, when I was younger, I somehow managed to get the lead role in my school's production of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox. Now, I am not the most naturally talented actor (well, maybe I am -but I don't want that to get in the way of a good analogy), but I practiced and practiced and by the time the show came round I was on top from - confident of a great performance. However, come the first night, everything fell apart - I mislaid props, forget lines and even fell off the stage at one point. Hopes had been so high, but by the time of the final curtain everything seemed to have fallen apart. You may wonder where this anecdote is going? Well, Crystal Palace did a similar thing Saturday.

Hopes and expectations had been so high amongst fans and pundits for Palace, but they slumped to a 2-1 defeat. Take nothing away from Bristol City, they came to Selhurst Park with a gameplan and executed it well. They didn't allow players time on the ball, they roughed up Sinclair and Moses and worked hard as a team to nullify the opposition threat - topping it all off with two well taken goals. Perhaps, though, even this wouldn't have been enough if the Palace players had performed to the levels they had attained in recent weeks. There seemed to be an element of stage fright about the indecisive way the players went about the match, and it eventually cost us a positive result.

Our boys in red and blue could not quite put a performance together, with misplaced passes and tentative decision making the order of the day. Victor Moses, our shining light over the past few weeks, understandably wilted under the constant physical presence of the City defenders - and Warnock's attempt to change the tactical approach was scuppered when Moses' replacement, James Scowcroft, came off with a hamstring injury barely 3 minutes after his arrival. Warnock's subsequent decision to stick defender Jose Fonte up front proved inspired, however, as the Portuguese man won the penalty that many in the ground thought would ensure the tie went to Ashton Gate all square. Only a strike from the very top draw prevented this from being the case, and it leaves Palace with an uphill task if they want to play in the Premiership next season.

All is not lost however - after all there is still another leg to go. Where perhaps the pressure of being favourites affected the players at Selhurst, at Ashton Gate the pressure will be completely off. We now have to be considered underdogs, and perhaps this will allow our players to express themselvesbetter and thus perform to a higher level. In front of their own fans, the Bristol City players may also be allowed to express themselves more offensively - Carle, for example, is a technically gifted player but yesterday seemed to have been instructed to kick anything that moved - and this may well play into the hands of our boys.

One thing that the boys will be without is the fantastic Palace support (well, at least not in the same quantity). On Saturday it was wonderful to see a full stadium, and at times the noise the Arthur Wait and Holmesdale Stands were making was incredible. Barely seconds after we conceded the first goal, the Arthur was up and chanting again - it made you proud to be a Palace fan. The second goal took a bit longer to recover from, but hey, nobody's perfect!

The support was especially admirable considering the shambolic way the club had handled the ticket situation for the match. I was one of thousands of fans whose tickets did not turn up in time, resulting in chaotic scenes at the box office.  I missed the kick-off as a result of the confusion, and there were hundreds of fans behind me in the queues that must have struggled to even get in the ground. Under normal circumstances you feel the kick-off would have been postponed, but the club obviously decided the needs and desires of Sky were more important than the treatment of the loyal fans. I hope the club issue an apology and, more importantly, take serious steps to make sure such a situation does not happen in the future.

Anyway, all these are just side issues to the main question - can Palace overturn the deficit on Tuesday and make the Wembley final? Well, I am not going to make predictions - that would just be pointless considering my bias. But I will say this - that second night, on Fantastic Mr Fox, I rocked the house. Seriously, it was the performance I had hoped to put in that first time.So, as far as Palace are concerned, I remain confident ...