After the chorus of boos that met the final whistle came what appeared a prescient warning over the public address system.
'I see trouble up the road,' cried Ocean Colour Scene, which in the circumstances might not have been the best choice of post-match music.
Roy Hodgson was not denying it though. The road ahead for Crystal Palace does threaten to be a difficult one and he was left recalling the words of his new employers when they turned to him in desperation last week and asked him to succeed Frank de Boer.
'I've obviously been told from the club's point of view that survival's everything, that it would be unthinkable that we go down,' he said.