For it was on 12th December 1964, at the Rams’ Baseball Ground, that Keith Smith – signed from Peterborough United the month before – needed just six seconds to give the Glaziers the lead.
Just months after winning promotion from the Third Division under manager Dick Graham – who had succeeded Arthur Rowe in 1962 – Palace had recovered from a poor start, losing their first three games, to win their next six on the bounce in all competitions.
Form ebbed and flowed from then on, with the Glaziers only once chaining together two victories between 30th September and 2nd January – but they also never lost consecutive games during that period.
Nevertheless, Smith’s history-making moment arrived after a run of three games without a win for Graham’s side – a 1-0 defeat at Preston North End the precursor to Palace’s quickest-ever start to a match.
The goal began with Peter Burridge’s kick-off, when centre-forward and top scorer Cliff Holton laid the ball off for fellow forward Brian Whitehouse to launch the ball long. In steamed Smith – and, after just six seconds, the Palace man had slotted past Derby goalkeeper Reg Matthews.
Derby would come back into the game, however, with Palace indebted to Burridge for a later brace to salvage a point; the Glaziers would finish the 64/65 season in seventh after securing a number of valuable draws.
As of the time of writing, records indicate that Smith’s goal is the joint-second fastest in English football history: only Jim Fryatt, for Bradford Park Avenue against Tranmere in the same year, has purportedly – the limits of technology have made such claims difficult to verify – scored a quicker goal (four seconds).
As for the modern day, only Shane Long’s goal for Southampton against Watford in 2018/19 (7.69 seconds) even comes close.
And, if only to solidify his place in Palace history, the year after his record-breaking strike, Smith also captured the honour of becoming the club’s first-ever substitute.
With a 12th player introduced to matchday squads at the start of 1965/66, Smith’s introduction for Ian Lawson on 28th August, 1965 was Palace’s first-ever substitution.