CRYSTAL Palace defender Jazz Richards revealed he didn't think Wilfried Zaha was going to play the ball to him down the right in the build-up to Kevin Phillips' equaliser at Watford last Friday.
The stopper, on loan from Swansea City, delivered a fantastic ball in for the striker to finish from close range and praised him for the influence he's brought to the club.
"He's still got it," Richards told Advertiser Sport.
"He came on and it was brilliant finish on the end of the cross, and that's why teams still want to sign him.
"I darted up the pitch and didn't think Wilfried was going to give to me, but it was a great finish by Kevin.
"We came out in the second half and showed what we can do, and if we can start like that like we finish every week, we're going to get results."
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A HEAD teacher whose school's GCSE results were described as "unacceptable" has said there is "no chance" it will become an academy.

St Mary's Catholic High in West Croydon was one per cent away from falling below the minimum expected proportion of students leaving school with five or more A* to C grades including English and maths.

Tim Pollard, council cabinet member for children, young people and learners, described the results as "unacceptable" and called for a "change in culture" at the school.

But this week head teacher Ejiro Ughwujabo defended his record and said St Mary's would not be forced to become an academy.

He said: "I agree that the results were disappointing but I wouldn't say they were unacceptable.

"Tim Pollard is a politician and there's a Government agenda for schools to become academies, therefore he's going to say that.

"I have the support of the diocese, which is why I think he is worried.

"We're a voluntary-aided school and they don't have as much authority when it comes to making us an academy.

"The diocese has said schools that want to become academies can do so but if we are talking in terms of it being imposed I don't see there is any chance.

"When the results come next year, they will see the folly of these kind of comments."

St Mary's finished second bottom of the school league tables published last month, with only 40 per cent of pupils leaving last summer with at least five good GCSEs, equalling the Government's new minimum target.

The Department for Education has said any school which falls below that target would become an academy sponsored by organisations such as the Harris Federation or Oasis Community Learning Trust.

Westwood Girls' College for Language and Arts posted 35 per cent and is in the process of being taken over by Harris.

Differences between year groups – or cohorts – can sometimes explain variations in exam results, though Cllr Pollard said St Mary's 11 per cent drop since 2011 was more than just an anomaly.

Mr Ughwujabo, however, said: "It was about the cohort, there's no doubt about that. That year group was not a very good group.

"I have analysed the results. They were not good. But I can tell you the teachers here work very hard, and so did the majority of those students."

English results were below expectations, Mr Ughwujabo explained, due to the impact of last year's GCSE exams fiasco, where grade boundaries were changed leading students to be given a D when predicted a C.

Mr Ughwujabo, who plans to retire in a year-and-a-half, has begun evening booster classes and extra lessons at weekends to improve results and says that mock exams show the tactics are working.

He said: "I've met with staff and made it clear to them that results cannot be as they were last year.

"The school is not going to be under threat because the results come August will be significantly different."

"We need someone to help us cross the road. What will we do if there's no lollipop man to help us cross?"

Osha attends Elmwood Junior School, in Lodge Road, which is one of ten schools set to lose a lollipop man or woman as part of the latest round of council cuts.

Last week, parents and head teachers told the Croydon Advertiser why they believe scrapping the school crossing patrols would put their children in danger.

Now, the pupils themselves have put pen to paper to let Croydon Council know how they feel.

"Please help us keep our lollipop man," writes Tatiana Morais Serreira, who also attends Elmwood.

"He helps us cross the road and he's a good person. Please, please."

• Croydon schoolchildren: 'Please don't take out lollipop ladies away'

Aaaminah Akhter attends Broadmead Primary School, in Sydenham Road.

The eight-year-old's excellently drawn picture shows lollipop woman Linda Conn helping two children across the road, both of whom are shown saying "Thank you".

Her mother Humaira, who has four children at Broadmead, says Sydenham Road can get dangerously busy during the school rush.

"There are so many children using the crossing, especially in the morning," she said. "Sydenham Road is used as a cut through between Croydon and Selhurst.

"There are always people rushing to get their children to school. It doesn't make sense to get rid of the lollipop man."

Suzanne Taylor, who lives in Sydenham Road, helped her four-year-old son Ethan recreate the logo for our campaign.

He uses the crossing in Northcote Road to get to The Crescent Primary which, as a relatively new school, currently only takes reception and Year 1 pupils.

"I worry what will happen when the school is full," said Miss Taylor. "It's going to get busy."

Scrapping ten school crossing patrols will save the council £60,000 a year as part of wider plans to make £36 million in savings over the next two years.

The under-threat lollipop men and women work on roads with automated and zebra crossings.

Four years ago Miss Taylor's daughter was hospitalised after being hit by a car while on a zebra crossing outside a school in Tulse Hill.

"Just because there's a crossing doesn't mean cars always stop," she said.

• Elmwood Junior School, Lodge Road, Croydon - automated crossing*
• Oasis Academy Shirley Park, Long Lane, Addiscombe - automated crossing
• St John's/Shirley High, Shirley Church Road, Shirley - automated crossing
• Park Hill Junior School, Stanhope Road, Croydon - zebra crossing
• Broadmead Junior School, Sydenham Road, Croydon - zebra crossing
• Broadmead Junior School/The Crescent, Northcote Road - zebra crossing
• Woodside Junior School, Morland Road, Woodside - zebra crossing **(x 2)
• All Saints CofE Primary School, Upper Beulah Hill, Upper Norwood - zebra crossing
• Aerodrome Primary School, Goodwin Road, Croydon - zebra crossing

WHEN Heather Bailey decided to go to university she received a clear message from her father – you can only go if you take a course leading to a qualification.

It was parental advice which has worked out well for Mrs Bailey as she prepares to celebrate 30 years running her optometrist practice in Limpsfield Road, Sanderstead.

She explained: "My father insisted I took a degree with a qualification and that left me with a choice of going into medicine, dentistry, chiropody or optics.

"As I wore contact lenses and glasses I chose to train as an optometrist. I decided eyes were preferable to the whole body."

The three-year university course was followed by a year's practical work in 1976, coincidentally at the practice she was to take over seven years later.

At the time the practice was a small adjunct to a neighbouring chemist's shop and she worked for the owner, Christopher Gordon between 1976 and 1983 when he decided to sell her the practice.

During the following years her business was established and when in 1999 the chemist's became vacant, she took it over and expanded the practice.

Mrs Bailey now employs a second part-time optometrist to examine eyes and supply contact lenses and she is supported by two dispensing opticians and three part-time receptionists.

Her skills can also play a vital role in picking up potential future eye defects and using specialised equipment, she can also spot early signs of other problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

Ensuring she keeps the practice up to date, she has recently installed new scanning equipment which provides a 3D image of the eye, making diagnosis of problems more efficient.

Over the years there has been increasing competition from chain practices but Mrs Bailey says they have had little impact on her business.

She said: "I think our clients appreciate the service we give because they are able to see the same person each time they come and that is important.

"I believe we also offer better quality and a better service. We have whole families coming here from different generations, so we must be doing something right."

Now aged 58, Mrs Bailey said she was beginning to look towards retirement, gradually reducing the days per week she works.

But that does not mean a running down of the service and she is cementing the future by working closely with one of her dispensing opticians, Linda Gilbert, who is preparing to buy into the business.

PRESSURE is mounting to save the tennis courts at an Upper Norwood park.

A meeting was held last week between council parks staff and Labour councillor Pat Ryan to discuss the future of the courts, located in the park off Biggin Hill.

Cllr Ryan said this week there were indications from the council that options for carrying out repairs to the three tennis courts would be looked at. Since the meeting, he added, work had started on clearing overgrowth around the courts, another cause of concern for people using the park.

Cllr Ryan said: "There is a lot of water leaking onto the surfaces, which is affecting them.

"We want to see them repaired and repainted. The courts are still very well used by people in the area but they are getting into a very bad state."

Cllr Ryan was joined at the meeting by tennis coach Martin McGilloway, who lives close to the courts.

He said: "If something isn't done soon to repair the courts, the situation could become irretrievable."

He said it would be possible to clean up the surfaces and paint them with an acrylic-based protective coating, which would preserve them for another five years.

Mr McGilloway added: "The council did a good job repainting the surfaces in 1997 but they have never been properly managed since."

A spokesman for Croydon Council confirmed that action had been taken to clean up the area around the courts and that it was intended that the lines on the courts would be repainted.

A LEUKAEMIA patient who refused to give up when doctors told her to say goodbye to her family has paid tribute to a mystery German bone marrow donor.

Michelle Richards, of Ash Tree Way, Shirley, endured three heart-wrenching years but is now in remission thanks to a last minute donation from across the continent.

But because of European laws, designed not to dishearten those whose marrow proves unsuccessful, she does not know the identity of the man who saved her life – only that he is 58 and lives in Germany.

"We've written to each other but it's been kept anonymous," she told the Advertiser. "At the end of the year I'll find out if he wants to meet me and I would love to be able to tell him how thankful I am, though I couldn't put it into words.

"He saved my life and I am indebted to him forever."

Michelle was 29 when she was diagnosed with a form of leukaemia which usually only affects the over-60s.

She was given super-drug Sprycel but the treatment was ineffective.

And the bad news became worse – Michelle had developed the more aggressive acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

She told the Advertiser: "They took me into hospital as soon as they found out, on the bank holiday weekend that Kate and William got married.

"I was put on chemotherapy straight away so they could get rid of all the blast cells in my body so I could have a bone marrow transplant.

"I was in a little room at Hammersmith hospital for a month and a half, I wasn't allowed to leave that room because I had no immune system. Then they told me the chemo hadn't worked.

"My doctors told me to get my affairs in order and to spend some time with my family at home. I only had a 10 per cent chance of surviving at that point."

However, despite doctors telling her there was nothing they could do, Michelle did not give up, and told them to give her even more chemotherapy.

She said: "I told my doctor he needed to double my dose of chemo. I told him it wasn't strong enough, that it hadn't made me ill enough, I'd had worse hangovers than that.

"I told them I wasn't giving up and if I was going to die it was going to be in hospital fighting, not giving up at home."

Michelle then spent another one and a half months under lock down, where people had to wear masks around her because her immune system was so fragile. Her mother spent weekdays looking after her while her husband Chris, who had to work to keep the couple financially afloat, spent weekends at the hospital.

Finally Michelle was told the chemotherapy had worked and she could have the bone transplant, but then more disaster struck.

She said: "I got meningitis and glandular fever and had absolutely no immune system to fight it off, but the doctors said everything they gave me my body just took it. I really wanted to fight.

"It was a horrible time, I was very sick, I was a mess, and to see what that did to my family broke my heart. I spent eight months in that little room."

Michelle was finally able to get the bone marrow transplant and left hospital in January 2012.

Now she, along with 10 other team mates, are walking 100km from Richmond Park to Brighton to raise money for charity Leuka.

She said: "The hospital were brilliant, they didn't give up on me. I hope I can encourage more people to donate bone marrow.

"A 58-year-old man from Germany gave me mine and saved my life. Without him I wouldn't be here."

To sponsor Michelle and her team on their 100km walk visit the website

WHAT I want is Premier League standards around the training ground and Premier League attitude to our work and being professional.

I've seen it work and I want it to work with my lads. If I end up with half my youth team in there, that's half the battle anyway.

If you look at my record, do I sign a superstar or do I bring people in and polish and shine them up?

I think we had a right go in the transfer window and I must thank Phil Alexander among others because they were there until after 11pm and had got our deals through – other teams didn't.

It's really important that everyone knows that I need their help and I think the fans are no different. I know what I want and what I'm going to do, and that takes time to build it around to that.

It also takes patience, it takes understanding and more importantly than anything, I think we've made a statement to young players, that nobody at Palace will stand in your way selfishly.

I didn't want to stand in Wilfried Zaha's way. Imagine if we kept on saying 'no, no, no', but I thought my chairman handled it brilliantly and I think he dealt with Manchester United fantastically well.

I've just got to make sure Wilfried doesn't get worried or has to do too much. Some of the senior players and I have had a chat with him to let him know how we feel for him.

I think the kid is absolutely magnificent. Our fans know it and I think Man United fans will know it.

The 'he's just too good for you' chant, I'll never forget that, and wouldn't it be marvellous if Man United fans were singing that because it started at Palace?

He's still got a lot more learning to do to raise himself to their standards, but they have bought his potential and that's what I've spoken to Sir Alex Ferguson about.

Does that make me a traitor to Crystal Palace? I don't think so. I think young lads and their parents will see that and they'll want them to come and play for us, and if they're good enough, I'll play them.

UNDERCOVER police are being stationed outside Croydon's schools due to a dramatic rise in the number of children being mugged for their phones.

Figures obtained by the Advertiser show 1,497 phones – more than four a day – were stolen on streets across Croydon last year, up 52 per cent from 2010, with 10 to 17-year-old schoolchildren the largest victim group.

More than a third of all phone robbery victims – 35 per cent – are between 10 and 17, which has risen as increasing numbers carry the latest, most valuable smartphones.

• New Addington boy, 12, robbed for mobile phone outside home

The figures show Apple iPhones and BlackBerrys – worth hundreds of pounds – are the two most stolen brands overall, with Samsungs in third.

Schoolchildren are considered an easy target who will not put up a fight against older muggers, according to the Met, which is stationing undercover officers outside schools and along children's routes home to tackle the epidemic.

Detective Inspector Brian Hobbs, who heads up Croydon's robbery department, said muggers, who often threaten physical violence, follow schoolchildren after seeing them talking or texting on their journey home. Sometimes they are even threatened with knives.

He said: "It is fair to say we have been aware of this problem for some time. These phones are like a red rag to a bull for these criminals, who see schoolchildren as an easy target, especially if they are walking alone or in a small group.

"What tends to happen is they will be targeted by a group of older youths who will follow them and often use physical violence.

"They pick on schoolchildren for a reason. They know where they're going to be and at what time. They're easy pickings. We recently had a series of these incidents around the Brit School, but it is happening at schools across the borough.

"The availability of the valuable phones has become more widespread with people being able to get them on cheap contracts, that's one of the factors. It is ironic that parents think it is making their children safer to have a phone, but it can make them more of a target."

Det Insp Hobbs advised children not to use their phones in public unless in an emergency, while parents should consider giving their loved-ones cheaper models.

Of all male robbery victims, 42 per cent were between 10 and 17 while 21 per cent of all female victims were in that age group. Hundreds more are the victim of thefts, including pickpocketing or "bag dipping".

The figures also show 18 to 30-year-olds are the second largest victim group of phone robberies – 32 per cent overall.

Alison Thomas, 40, whose 12-year-old son, Sidney, was pounced on by three youths for his BlackBerry while on his way home from school last week, said the ordeal has affected him psychologically.

Ms Thomas said: "I think it's disgusting that schoolchildren are being targeted because they are easy prey. It makes me sick to be honest and I think the people doing it are cowards. My son is only little."

• Across all three years, 67 per cent of victims are male and 33 per cent female;
• About 45 per cent of victims are white, 22 per cent black, 21 per cent Asian and 12 per cent other;
• Of the male victims, 42 per cent are aged 10 to 17, 32 per cent are aged 18 to 30 and 11 per cent are 31 to 40;
• Of the female victims, 32 per cent are 18 to 30, 21 per cent are 10 to 17 and 18 per cent are 31 to 40; and
• Overall, 35 per cent of victims are aged 10 to 17 and 32 per cent are 18 to 30.

ADELE scooped yet another gong at Sunday's Grammy Awards, but seven years ago she was performing for a very different audience as she stole the show in a school talent contest.

Liz Penney, Adele's former music teacher at the BRIT School, remembers the pop sensation leaving audiences awestruck with her performance of Daydreamer, the first track on her debut album, during an annual music show.

She said; "Every year we do a show which is called Best Of. It included the best performances from the year, and when she was about 17 – nearly 18 – Adele sang Daydreamer and stole the show.

"In our feedback session afterwards everyone spoke about how they were really wowed by her performance. It was something special."

Adele joined the Brit School, whose former students include Jessie J and Amy Winehouse, in Year 10 after spending three years at Chestnut Grove school in Balham, south west London.

Miss Penney, who is head of music at the Brit, said Adele showed talent in her early years but that in Year 13 she started to become, "more noticeable as someone who could write and sing".

And she recalled how in Year 11, Adele was happy spending time on her own despite being very popular.

"I remember walking down the corridor and she would be sitting in a little alcove on her own with her lyric book and an acoustic guitar," she said.

"She would take herself off while other people were busy and sit and write.

"That was just in Year 11, but I do have a distinct memory of thinking that was very focused of someone so young not to be gossiping in the canteen."

Miss Penney says she finds Adele's success surreal. She remembers the pop star winning a Fame Academy bursary when she was about 16, which meant she won £1,000 and got to meet Paul McCartney.

"I went along with Adele and her mum, and Adele and I were both really excited about meeting Paul McCartney. We both ran up to him to shake his hand.

"It is all quite ironic now, seeing Adele at the Grammys and Paul McCartney winking and waving at her.

"It is very strange that there she was age 16, and now they are more than acquaintances."

Adele, 24, has been nominated for best original song – Skyfall – at the Oscars this year. She is set to perform the Bond theme at the event on February 24.

It will be the first time she has performed live since the 2012 Brit awards.

The singer said in a statement: "It's an honour to be nominated and terrifyingly wonderful to be singing in front of people who have captured my imagination over and over again."

CROYDON MP Gavin Barwell – the chairman of governors at exclusive Trinity School – has defended the decision to appoint a teacher who was sacked from his previous post for inappropriately text messaging a 12-year-old girl.

The MP for Croydon Central said all appropriate checks had been made before employing Benjamin Laundon, whom he said was "the best candidate for the job".

But he acknowledged that both he and headmaster Mark Bishop were aware the history teacher and cadet leader had been dismissed from Caterham School for gross misconduct.

Mr Laundon, 40, of Norman Avenue, South Croydon, was last month cleared of historic charges of inappropriately touching a different schoolgirl in 2006.

However, it has emerged Mr Laundon had been dismissed by Caterham School in 2007 after it was discovered he had inappropriately text messaged a 12-year-old student.

Julian Thomas, head teacher at Caterham School, confirmed the teacher was dismissed for gross misconduct.

He added: "We contacted all the relevant parties, including the police and social services, and his future employers. Trinity School were aware of the issue."

Soon after his dismissal, Mr Laundon secured a position at Trinity in Shirley, even though the headmaster, Mark Bishop, who had previously been deputy head at Caterham School, knew of his history.

He left Trinity in 2011 after the allegations he was acquitted of at court last month were raised.

Mr Barwell, a former pupil of the £13,000-a-year school, told the Advertiser: "As a governor at Trinity School I was consulted at the time of hiring Mr Laundon.

"There were three things that the governors checked. There was an extensive CRB check on Mr Laundon, we spoke to the Department for Education, and we also got information from social services.

"None of those three things flagged up any problems with him, and he was the best candidate for the job.

"As the head teacher Mark Bishop was aware of the issue, we actually went above and beyond what was needed.

"The fact that Mark Bishop knew him from Caterham had nothing to do with him getting the job; he was the best candidate. We went above and beyond to check he was OK, as pastoral care is very important at Trinity School."

In a statement, Trinity head Mr Bishop said: "Both the Department of Education and the Ministry of Defence, who had investigated the reasons for his departure, assured us that he could continue to work with young people.

"An enhanced CRB check was carried out, as it is with all staff, and the decision to appoint was approved at the time by Surrey Social Services. Given this clear and consistent advice, governors approved the appointment."

"It should be made clear that the text message that Mr Laundon sent to the pupil was not of a sexual or indecent nature.

"This was confirmed by police, social services and his previous school. Had it been of that nature, clearly Mr Laundon would not have been appropriate to work with young people and I would never have appointed him.

"I would also add that, during the time that he worked here, Mr Laundon conducted himself at the school with exemplary professionalism."