CRYSTAL Palace defender Damien Delaney believes Saturday's point against Burnley is something to build on following a hectic few weeks. The Republic of Ireland international is certainly not getting worried either about the Eagles' start and says once the new-look squad begin to gel, things should fall into place. On paper, Palace may have been expected to beat the Clarets on home soil, but following the new arrivals and international break, Delaney is staying positive and was happy with the first clean sheet of the campaign. "Any point in this division can't be sniffed at," said the 33-year-old. "We could have won it but we could have quite easily lost it as well. "We'll take it, that's two games undefeated now. A clean sheet, there's lots of bonuses and also Wilfried Zaha coming back in it's only going to get better. "The first clean sheet is good. Points is what you're after, clean sheets are a bonus. "We have a lot of new players involved and some were away on international duty on meeting others for the first time on Thursday, so it's nothing but positives really. "Yannick Bolasie, I hadn't even seen until the changing room before the game as he was away. "It's been important to get two good results. It's two points and we have another 38 to go. "Once we start gelling hopefully we can go on and achieve better things."

AMBULANCES are taking too long to respond to life-threatening calls in Croydon and across London, a report has said.

London Ambulance Service (LAS) is expected to get to 'Red' calls – including cardiac arrest and traumatic injuries – within eight minutes in 75 per cent of cases.

In Croydon, ambulance crews missed that target in May and June, responding to the most serious incidents within eight minutes in 72.9 per cent and 69.9 per cent of cases respectively.

The target was also missed across London as a whole prompting "serious concern", a report by Croydon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said.

LAS blamed rising response times on increasing demand and urged people to call 999 only when it was a "genuine" emergency.

The highest priority calls are designated Red 1 (cardiac arrest or life-threatening injury) and Red 2 (serious breathing difficulty or suspected stroke). They are classified as an immediate danger to life and require an emergency response with blue lights.

Year-to-date figures up until August 10 showed LAS was reaching Red 1 and Red 2 calls within eight minutes 72 per cent and 66 per cent of the time. In Croydon, paramedics are currently missing the target by an average of 35 seconds.

The issue has been raised at senior levels within the LAS and discussed with London's 32 CCGs, the NHS Trust Development Authority and NHS England.

Dr Agnelo Fernandes, assistant clinical chair at Croydon CCG said: "We have raised our concerns, and we are in regular discussions with LAS to explore ways of improving performance in Croydon.

"This is an issue across London, not just in Croydon, so we have also spent time with NHS colleagues from across the region looking at possible solutions."

Kevin Brown, deputy director of operations at LAS, said more staff were being recruited to cope with demand.

"Every year demand on our service increases and we are responding to nine per cent more incidents than last year," he said.

"This means it can take longer to reach some patients than we would like, however, we always prioritise our response to people who are more seriously ill and injured and we are recruiting more staff and giving more telephone advice to help us respond more quickly.

"Croydon residents can help us by only calling in a genuine emergency and using other healthcare providers such as calling 111 or visiting their GP or walk-in centre for less serious injuries and illnesses."

This last point was questioned by Dr Onkar Sahota, chairman of London Assembly's Health Committee, who said patients were "confused" by the "cocktail" of services and advice on offer, such as calling non-emergency numbers and seeing a GP.

"As a result they choose something which is convenient and they trust," he said.

"When faced with so many choices, of course people will call for an ambulance. It may later turn out to have been inappropriate, but that's what they do in an emergency.

"Whether the call is inappropriate can only be decided later. When someone has a severe headache it could be a migraine, or it could be a burst blood vessel in the head. You can only make the judgement after you have seen the patient."

AFTER a turbulent year – and having gone into administration in April – it comes as something of a surprise that Croydon Village Outlet has lasted a year.

But still it trades from the former Allders site, despite what could politely be termed a few "teething problems" along the way.

This, of course, began with a chaotic opening (and then closing) 12 months ago, and continued into various allegations about staff not being paid on time, and customers being denied much-vaunted designer gear.

By early summer this year, the store had been put into administration and arguably its biggest impact on Croydon since has been courtesy of its omnipresent soapbox hawker – promoting the store's wares to passing customers in North End.

The bottom line is that, whatever your views on Croydon Village Outlet, it would be a stretch to say it's been a success or a fitting replacement for the 150-year-old Allders.

The fact Croydon BID – a body whose modus operandi is to promote town centre businesses as positively as possible – has felt compelled to lodge a complaint about its on-street selling practices is as sure a sign as any that the outlet hasn't been fully embraced by the town.

The BID is quite right too. The North End hawking and megaphone-led sales spiel looks and sounds tacky and doesn't exactly enhance the image or appearance of the town.

Away from the outlet, the recent closure of stores like Burton and Dorothy Perkins reflects a general danger that in this pre-Westfield/Hammerson limbo-land, we're going to end up with a dead town centre.

HMV, opened last week, gives some hope but in general, our retail centre needs a fresh impetus. This, of course, is on its way, in a shiny, exciting £1 billion package – and it can't come soon enough.

COLUMNIST and Crystal Palace fan ALEX WHITE mourns the loss of one Eagles favourite on loan - but suggests a temporary move away from SE25 wouldn't be the worst idea for another...

It was absolutely heart-breaking to see Glenn Murray smash two goals in for Reading on his debut and watch us drably fail to break the deadlock against Burnley. Of course it was nice to see Glenn get back on the scoresheet, just a shame it wasn't in the stripes of red and blue. It makes us think what could have been! 

With Chamakh out injured, it seemed that it would have been the perfect opportunity to unleash the potentially defence-shattering partnership of Muzza and Gayle. To start with Campbell and Gayle up top seemed bizarre to me, not that Warnock had much choice if he wanted to continue with the same formation. Dwight and Frazier are reasonably similar players and crave a big centre forward in and around them to feed off of.

So we have seen one backup player leave on loan in this window, and I think maybe it could be time for another one to go and get game time. Our very own Jonny Williams was introduced and in all honesty offered very little. 

Don't get me wrong I love what Joniesta is about, and his potential is frightening. When Jonny came on he looked raw and overawed by his own enthusiasm. Jonny misplaced passes and broke down moves in the final third. I think if the lad could build his confidence and begin to think more on the ball we will have a world-beater on our hands. 

Barry Bannan was left out of the squad and based on the cameo of Jonny it was hard to see why. At this current moment, Bannan is ahead of Jonny in his development and is an established Premier League player. This is in no way is a dig towards Williams but just the honest truth. A six-month loan to the Championship seems ideal for all parties involved.

The next game we face Everton; who have started slowly but got their first win last weekend. Last time we played Everton (much like this time) we were given no chance and came away with a shock win. I don't see why we can't spoil the odds again, especially if we can get the sorely missed Chamkah back fit and playing. 

Last match he was so missed, I think his presence and influence can be overlooked at times. If he had played against Burnley I think we might have seen a different script.

POLICE investigating a sexual assault on a woman in Croydon want to identify this man.

The 35-year-old woman was walking along Southbridge Road towards her car in Bramley Hill at 8.45am on July 28.

She was approached by a man who spoke to her before grabbing her around the waist.

The victim managed to break free and got into her car before the suspect left.

Detectives from Croydon CID are investigating the incident and have released a CCTV image of the person they want to talk to.

Anyone with information or who may recognise the person should contact police calling 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, quoting the reference number 157114. 

There was a car crash in the middle of the night last night near Purley War Memorial Hospital on Brighton Road.

London Ambulance Service were called at 12.15am to the road traffic collision between two cars at the junction of Brighton Road and Christchurch Road.

Two ambulance crews went to the scene where they treated a man, reported to be in his late thirties, for back injuries. He was not taken to hospital.

Another man was also treated at the scene for minor injuries.

This is the second crash at the junction of Brighton Road and Christchurch Road in the past three weeks. A motorcyclist suffered serious leg injuries in a crash with a car at the junction on August 28.

POLICE have released CCTV images of a man and a car they want to trace in connection with a robbery in London Road.

A woman was given a lift from Tottenham Court Road by a group of men in the early hours of July 13. 

At around 5.10am she realised she did not know where she was so she got out of the car, believed to be a black BMW.

As she started to walk down the road - London Road in Croydon - one of the men followed her and attempted to make her get back in the car.

When she refused, the men grabbed her mobile phone and ran back to the car, which then sped off along Handcroft Road.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Croydon Police on 020 3276 2214 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

PUPILS with speech and language difficulties were treated to a trip to remember thanks to a special needs charity.

Happy Days paid for 19 children from Aerodrome Primary Academy, in Waddon, to go to the theatre for the first time in their lives.

The pupils, from the school's speech and language unit, were treated to a meal at Pizza Express last Wednesday before watching The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre in the West End.

"They were so taken aback by it all," said Hannah Kiernan, a specialist teaching assistant at Aerodrome.

"A lot of them are from very under-privileged backgrounds and would never have this opportunity; we took them to the cinema a couple of months ago and the majority of them had never been before.

"They were fascinated by what was going on at the theatre and, considering it was their first time, they were really well behaved."

The pupils were set tasks based around The Lion King in the week leading to the trip, which the school hopes will help develop their communication skills.

Happy Days provides outings and respite breaks for children with special needs. Since 1992 it has helped more than 166,000 children.

The pupils at Aerodrome were between three and ten-years-old and have disabilities such as cerebral palsy and autism.

Maxine Whitmore, a speech and language therapist at the school, said: "It was a brand new experience for the children involved. You could see in their faces just how excited they were.

"The musical itself featured all sort of things that will support their learning. It was an experience they are not likely to forget." 

HIGH vacancy rates have created a "gaping hole" at the heart of policing in Croydon, a politician has claimed.

Statistics show that, in May, Croydon Police were the equivalent of 59 officers below strength.

Sarah Jones, Labour's prospective candidate for Croydon Central at next year's general election, accused Mayor of London Boris Johnson of reneging on a promise to give the borough extra resources.

The Met said the figures were only a "snapshot" of staff strength and that "much has changed" since May. The Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) said the number of officers in Croydon's neighbourhood teams will have more than doubled between 2011 and 2015.

The Mayor promised front counters would be replaced with more officers on the streets when all but one of the borough's police stations closed or had opening hours slashed in the face of £500m budget cuts last year.

MOPAC said Croydon would get 117 extra officers by 2015, the second highest increase in London.

New figures appear to show MOPAC has quite some way to go before it fulfills that promise.

The 'target strength' for Croydon in May was 764 full time equivalents, but the actual number stationed in the borough was 705, a vacancy rate of eight per cent.

In July, the latest available statistics, officer strength increased to 711, just 12 higher than last September, when five stations closed or had opening hours cut.

Information about vacancy rates was supplied in response to a question asked of the Mayor by Joanne McCartney, London Assembly member for Enfield and Haringey.

It revealed there were 1,209 vacancies for police sergeants and constables across the capital in May.

Mrs Jones accused Mr Johnson and the government of "running down police numbers despite clear manifesto pledges to do the exact opposite".

"It is no wonder that residents complain about the lack of police out on the beat if the force is so under strength," she said.

"The government talks tough on crime but the evidence suggests police numbers are down, and people are suffering as a result."

The Labour politician called on Croydon Central MP Gavin Barwell to "unequivocally condemn these reckless cuts".

Mr Barwell declined to comment when contacted by the Advertiser.

The Met said the situation had improved since the figures in question and that it plans to increase officer strength from 31,200 in August to 32,000 by 2015/16.

"This is despite a significant reduction in the overall budget and is only possible due to the ambitious change programmes which are currently being implemented across the Met, driving efficiency and cost reductions in non-front line roles."

An average of 250 new recruits will start training each month over the rest of the financial year, a spokesman added.

MOPAC said the number of police officer's in Croydon's safer neighbourhood teams will reach 183 by 2015, compared to 73 in 2011.

A spokeswoman added: "This is one of the highest increases in London and means there are far more opportunities for these officers to engage with the local community and fight crime."

Amid debate about officer numbers, overall crime in Croydon fell 9.5 per cent last year, though domestic violence and rape increased sharply.

POLICE are appealing for information after they were called to reports of a fight between two men and a women outside a Restaurant Quarter eaterie on Saturday (September 13). Police were called at approximately 11.05pm to reports of the fight outside fusion bar and grill Apatura but no allegations were made to officers and no arrests were made. Officers from Croydon CID are investigating and want to hear from anyone in the South End area late on Saturday who may have witnessed anything. Anyone with any information should contact Croydon Police's CID on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

ADVERTISER columnist and Five Year Plan Fanzine editor ROBERT SUTHERLAND wants Eagles fans to cut their skipper a bit of slack...

Saturday's game with Burnley wasn't Mile Jedinak's greatest. His pass completion rate was just above 50%, and his errors led to the Clarets winning a penalty they barely deserved, with a wonderful Julian Speroni save digging our Aussie captain out of a hole.

We know that Jedinak is a slow starter, it took him a while to settle in at Palace, and he only really gets into the swing of things once he has a few games under his belt. But this time, it's a little different. It's clear that he's jaded.

The captain we've become accustomed to has an indomitable demeanour - he plays fair but if you're his opponent, he makes it his personal mission to defeat you. The Jedinak we saw on Saturday lacked some of that spirit - he just didn't look ready.

However, even a jaded Jedinak is better than no Jedinak. Palace don't have a player with his tenacity or leadership capable of filling boots his size. Looking at the club's midfield options currently, the only player who could have replaced him was Joe Ledley - which might have happened in the second half had the Welshman not pulled up with an injury doing warm ups.

Jedinak is a talisman in the Palace side. A leader by example. While the errors put a potentially bitter twist on his performance, he still contributed to the Eagles winning a point and his header in the first half also hit the bar.
What Jedinak could really do with is a long break - not from the team but from football entirely. A hard-fought previous season and a World Cup in Brazil really warranted recovery time, not just physically but also mentally; recovery time which he just can't and won't have.

While this isn't an ideal situation, Jedinak will keep fighting and he'll come through this a stronger player and character, and once his partnership with James McArthur gets going, we'll see a stronger, more potent midfield force take hold. 

The Aussie is worth persisting with.

LEISURE centres in Croydon could close on Thursday and Friday as staff escalate strike action in a dispute over pay and conditions, unions have warned.

The 48-hour walkout is being staged against Fusion Leisure, the company which runs the five centres for the council.

Union Unite held a 24-hour strike as part of the same dispute in July.

It said 48 members of staff - lifeguards, fitness instructors and receptionists - would be involved in this week's action.

Fusion runs leisure centres in Waddon, Purley, Thornton Heath, New Addington and South Norwood.

They remained open during the last strike but Unite believes maintaining an uninterrupted service over two days will be more difficult.

Unite has accused Fusion of running a 'multi-tier' workforce in order to save money by paying workers who do the exact same job varying rates and subjecting them to different basic terms and conditions.

On Friday, workers involved in the strike will hand out breakfast 'goodies' - coffee, cereal bars and other freebies - to council staff as they go to work at Bernard Weatherill House, the headquarters of Croydon Council.

It says the demonstration is designed to highlight poor pay in the leisure industry while supporting a national campaign for a £1-an-hour pay rise.

Onay Kasab, Unite's regional officer, said: "We were disappointed that, despite committing to providing proposals to deal with our concerns about the multi-tier workforce, where staff doing the same job are on wildly varying pay and conditions, the employer has failed to even make contact with the union.

"We have made it clear we are prepared to negotiate - the company clearly is not."

During the strike, Unite will be organising protests at Fusion leisure centres in Southwark.

The union also plans to ballot members at Greenwich Leisure for strike action over zero-hour contracts.

A council spokesman said: "Officers have spoken with Fusion and they have pulled in enough staff from other contracts to ensure the centres remain fully operational during the strike period and they will keep to the normal schedule of programmes so there should be no disruption to the public." 

A PRIMARY school has plummeted from 'outstanding' to 'inadequate' in its latest Ofsted report.

Parish Church CE Junior School, in Waddon, was given the watchdog's lowest possible grade because its pupils "significantly underachieve", particularly in reading and writing.

A report, published this week, said the school's "overall effectiveness has declined drastically" since it was last inspected in 2010.

It found that on most days pupils only wrote a few words in their books. 

The school's problems were exacerbated by its "extremely over-generous evaluation of its own performance," said Ofsted.

Head teacher Wendy Jacobs, who was not in place during June's inspection, declined to comment when contacted by the Advertiser this week. She replaced David Morgan who retired at the end of the summer term.

Despite Parish Church's sudden fall from grace, there are currently no plans for it to be converted into an academy, as other failing state schools automatically are when judged to be failing.

Croydon Council said Ms Jacobs was as an "experienced" head teacher with a "proven track record" and would be given time to turn the school around.

Parish Church, a church school controlled by the Diocese of Southwark, performed above the national average in this summer's SATs, with 83 per cent of pupils achieving at least a Level 4 in reading, writing and maths.

However, the inspection team said the school needed to do far more with pupils who enter the school at an above average level but leave having made little to no improvement.

They were particularly critical of the lack of progress made by pupils from deprived backgrounds, who receive additional financial support, and said gaps in attainment were widening.

"The school is not promoting equality of opportunity because pupils who are eligible for additional funding do markedly less well when compared with others in the school and with similar pupils nationally," the report said.

Pupils who have just moved into Year 4 made "extremely slow" progress and nearly a third of pupils now in Year 5 and 6 failed to make the necessary strides last year.

"Progress in writing declined over time and is now well below the minimum expected rates," the report said.

Ofsted said the problems were caused be "inadequate" teachers who do no check progress regularly and a governing body which fails to hold them to account.

"Too often teachers do not have high enough expectations of what pupils can do," the report said.

Pupil progress is not checked regularly meaning some pupils "lose concentration and do not complete enough work because the task is either too easy or confuses them".

Evidence of books in Year 3, 4, and 5, the report said, showed that on most days children often wrote only a few words in their books.

Behaviour, despite being the only area of the school not judged to be inadequate, was also criticised. Pupils from several classes told Ofsted they were "frequently bored" and often chatted loudly in class, distracting others.

The governing body is criticised for failing to question the school's exaggerated opinion of itself and because it should have ensured teachers' performance was "linked to salary".

The 420-pupil primary expanded this month to take a fourth form of entry as part of the council's plans to meet the demand for school places.

The one positive aspect of the inspection was Ofsted recognised that pupils' "spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is well promoted".

A council spokesman said: "The council has worked with the Southwark Diocesan Board of Education to appoint an experienced head teacher with a proven track record to replace the former head who left at the end of last term. We have also helped provide additional teaching and learning support from two outstanding practitioners on a weekly basis.

"We believe the school now has sufficient capacity to make rapid progress and we're satisfied with the actions they have already taken."

REVELLERS going into central London for New Year's Eve will this year be charged £10 for the privilege.

The last two years of celebrations have seen the capital city struggle to cope with spiraling visitor numbers, which reached in excess of 500,000 in 2013.

So, this morning, the mayor's office announced this year's fireworks display will be ticketed, with just 100,000 going on sale later this month, priced £10 per person.

Sir Edward Lister, the mayor's chief of staff, told LBC Radio this morning (Wednesday) that the money would help cover the cost of stewarding the event, and claimed they had little choice but to put a lid on the numbers coming into London on December 31.

Police in Croydon are looking for a couple after officers discovered holiday photos of them on a stolen memory card.

The photos were discovered after officers arrested a 53-year-old man on September 9.

The man, who police describe as one of Croydon's top five prolific burglars for going equipped to steal and handling stolen goods, was bailed to return to a south London police station in November.

In his possession was a memory card containing lots of photos of a couple and two girls believed to be their daughters aged between two and four, on a holiday in Egypt.

DC John Davis, from Croydon Serious Acquisitive Crimes Unit said: "We have arrested a prolific burglar in the Croydon area who was in possession of property believed to be stolen and we are keen to identify the victims and unite them with their family photos.

"This will also assist us in proving further offences and ensuring the suspect is prosecuted."

Anyone with information should contact DC John Davis from Croydon Serious Acquisitive Crimes Unit on 0203 276 2273, alternatively to remain anonymous please contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111

TWO teenagers have appeared in court accused of raping women with learning difficulties. 

Ameen Noori and Nasir Huq, 18, are charged with raping the two alleged victims at a flat in Croydon in April 2013. 

A third man, Ahmad Faiq, also 18, is accused of attempting to rape the women at the same address. 

The three college students appeared at Croydon Magistrates' Court today (Wednesday). 

Aided by an interpreter, they spoke only to confirm their names and addresses. 

Noori, of St James's Road, Croydon, is charged with one count of raping a woman aged 16 years or over between April 17 and April 20, 2013.

He is also accused of attempting to rape a woman at the flat between April 4 and April 7, 2013. 

Huq, of Neville Road, Croydon, is charged with raping a woman at the address between April 17 and April 20, 2013.

Faiq, of Parry Road, South Norwood, faces a charge of attempting to rape a woman aged 16 or over between April 4 and April 7, 2013.

He is also charged with assault by penetration of a female over the age of 13 between the same dates. 

The defendants did not enter a plea and were given conditional bail until a hearing a Croydon Crown Court on October 1. 

They must not apply for travel documents, contact the prosecution witnesses and report to Croydon Police Station on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.