It’s a sigh of relief, especially when you look at the list of players who we have out, Youl Mawene – virus, Matty Hill – head knock, medial ligament damage, Callum Davidson – medial ligament damage, Danny Dichio – ankle ligament damage, Nugent – metatarsal, Adam Nowland – broken leg, Andy Lonergan – cruciate, Andy Smith – patellar tendon, it’s just unbelievable, eight players out of a squad of 26, we have been chopping and changing and we have picked up a wonderful three points.

It was a great goal, again we are guilty of guilt edged misses, we should have been more in front. We played some good stuff in the first half but the work ethic of every one of these players is excellent, we tried to go and be positive and play three strikers with the hope of trying to get one or two goals against a side that has not lost in five, a very difficult side to play against because they have got some clever players and I don’t think their league position tells the full story, I think they have been unfortunate from time to time because they are a good side. But I’m delighted because I phoned a young centre half at a quarter to twelve to tell him that he is playing after Youl phoned in with a virus and we have brought Tyrone Mears who has done an excellent job and one or two other guys. We are very pleased with the three points, it’s a crucial lead that we have, that five point gap that we have with only six games remaining, roll on the next five weeks.

It was top class, absolutely excellent, you couldn’t ask for a better debut. The young man showed not only the aggression and the defending of a centre-back but the composure to play as well because he can certainly pass that ball. It was a shock to his system when I phoned him this afternoon when he was on his ninth hamburger and chips at McDonalds but he has done fantastically well.

That’s some work ethic, the lad’s work ethic is second to none and he will get us goals don’t worry about that. We are just having to get ourselves over this season and then work with the young players that we have and get one or two of the lads that we have got and give them a pre-season. Marcus Stewart again was excellent, he played in the positions that he takes up and from back to front I thought that there was some very good performances but more importantly it was great nerve to go and hang in there and pick up three points.

I’ve got problems with McKenna and Brian O’Neil, we had to take them both off with slight groin strains, Brian O’Neil was more precautionary, Paul McKenna is more serious and we will find out more about it tomorrow. So we will know more about it tomorrow, I think we have had about ten operations this season and that’s in comparison to last season where we had three and we are really finding it very difficult. Consistent team selection is crucial for a successful team, we are finding that difficult and we are having to chop and change which is not good at the moment, but we will try and hang in there and try and work away.

It was that serious that we had to take him off and he was certainly feeling it, but here’s hoping that it’s not too serious and we took him off in time because he is very important for us.

He’s phoned in with a virus and so has Stock, they have both been suffering with a virus and I thought about Stocky tonight as well, he trained yesterday for about 20 minutes and I pulled him out of training. Youl has phoned in with the symptoms of this virus but I’m hoping that he can be ok for Saturday.

Claude has soldiered on for the last four or five weeks but he has been excellent, I thought tonight he has been superb. But Claude is Claude, we don’t worry about Claude, he’s Jamaican, we just ignore him and I say that with the greatest respect to all Jamaicans.

The job is not done, far from done. We have got to enjoy it tonight, we will get back in tomorrow, we will get our head down again, we will get the walking wounded patched up again and get the best squad that we can. There’s some crucial games coming up, there’s some important games to come up, wins that still have to be got. The players know themselves that this was a big test of their nerves tonight and it was a very important three points and we are just delighted to get them in the bag.

It all came from our mistakes, it all came from our possession and I said that to them at half-time, we were our own worst enemy. We were very careless in the first half, we never moved the ball about, we never created enough chances and it was a disappointing first half. Second half was much much better, I thought we had some wonderful individual performances, particularly the goalkeeper and the two centre-halves, I thought they were top class. It’s a great point, a wonderful point and it keeps the run going, that’s 25 without defeat and we are very proud of that record.

He missed more than one chance, he had three wonderful chances, not just him but one or two others. We had some good opportunities second half, the one he has put over the bar from a tremendous free-kick in the first half was a bad miss, but he is there, he is a young lad, I’ve said before that he has got development to do, he’s got learning to do and he has got to realise very quickly. But to be fair to him, I’ve said before that it will be next season before we see the best of him with this three and a half month illness that he had with impetigo. It’s taken an awful lot out of him but we will see the best of him once we get him a pre-season but he is a fantastic asset to us, there’s no doubt about it. Unfortunately on the day he never put the ball away.

Personally I think that this season, so far, is a much much greater achievement than last season. This season we have had to deal with the loss of Cresswell, Eddie Lewis and then Nugent with impetigo, 49 goals between the three of them. We then go and bring in David Jones from Manchester United and he goes to Holland, we bring in Adam Nowland from Forest  and he breaks his leg, we lose McKenna for seven weeks, we lost Brian O’Neil for six weeks and we make all these changes. Then we bring in young players from the lower leagues, David Hibbert, Simon Whaley, Brian Stock, all these players we have brought in and we are in a transition, there’s no doubt about it. In my opinion this is a much greater achievement because of what we have had to deal with, even if we don’t go up.

Brett works his socks off, you can never fault the lad’s attitude. He has just come into the club and his contribution so far has been excellent, I’ve taken two strikers off and put two on because I have tried to freshen it up and try and change the game. It is always difficult coming back to your old club, especially one that he had such wonderful times for and great feelings for. It is a tremendous football club, you can see that just by looking at it. We are delighted to have Brett and delighted that he is with us and I am sure that he will contribute.

I don’t think it is a big one, I think it is a tremendous challenge for the players, it’s a tremendous challenge for the staff. We are the underdogs without a doubt, when you look at their squad and the team that they have and it will be a very difficult match. But we have got nothing to lose, we will go out there and enjoy the game, we will have a right go, do the best that we can and hopefully get the little breaks that you need in Cup football to go on to get into the next round.

I just felt that away from home it was important that we had his devilment, he’s a great battler and he has got a tremendous left foot and his performances before he got injured were excellent. It was a little bit of a risk but I certainly felt that it was necessary with regards to the team that we were playing against and obviously with us being away from home I thought it was vital.

1888, it’s 22 in one season. We are also now 25 undefeated but we now have 22 in the one league season. We are very proud of that record in the club’s 125 year history, to go and match that it is a very proud day for everyone connected with this football club as far as I am concerned.

It’s not so much payback but we were very disappointed with our performance at Luton, we underachieved, underperformed and we did ourselves no justice whatsoever. It is very important this weekend that we come out and we do ourselves justice, that we perform the way that we can and hopefully that will be good enough to pick up three points.

Confidence has been high from day one, through the draws and the bits and pieces like that confidence has never been a problem. We’ve got a bunch of players working very hard, on a good run and it’s important that we try and keep the run moving along. There are no easy games and this is a difficult match once again, they are a good side that have done very well this season so we have just got to make sure from our end that we go and we achieve and we perform and we keep it moving along.

Not just up front but in centre of defence as well, we have got Claude Davis coming back, in the centre of the park we have got Stocky coming back and Simon Whaley so there are great options all over the pitch which is very important. The only disappointment that we have is that Callum Davidson and Graham Alexander who are both struggling, Callum with a thigh strain and Graham with this hamstring problem. I’ve also decided to let young Joe Anyinsah out on loan for the month to try and get him 90 minutes of football for the latter part of the season when he comes back.

We are still touch and go, we don’t know, at the moment he is looking very doubtful. We will give him up until the last minute until we get a decision.

It has been going on for a couple of months, the situation is clear, Nuge’ has joined this club and has done brilliantly since he came in, he was very unfortunate at the start of the season to be missing for such a long period with the illness, he has now fought himself back but I don’t think he will be back to his best until he gets a pre-season under his belt. It’s great to have him in the squad and thoroughly deserves the rewards for what he has achieved because of the way he has gone about it and what he was contributed so it is a nice little reward for him.

We have done that over the past couple of weeks, we have talked to Callum Davidson and Claude Davis, there wasn’t just interest in Nugent there was interest from many other clubs for many other players. We have been speaking about the Nugent thing for a number of months and it is not time to sit down and reward the lad for what he has done since he came to the club.

Hopefully we can get it done this afternoon, the intention is there, we are very keen to do it, we recognise that the contribution that he has made has been very good and he has certainly made great progress since he has been here. We just feel it is necessary and it something that he deserves

It’s good that we are still in the hat. That’s the most important thing, we have got an important hurdle to jump away at Palace and of course there will be disappointment from everybody with regards not getting a big Premier Division. Coventry will be feeling the same but Middlesbrough is a tough game whatever happens. The only thing you want to try and do is get through to the next round and then you have got a chance to fight on, so we are pleased to be there.

It is business as usual, we have got a game to prepare for which is very important, it’s an extremely important three points.

The one message I want to put out is that I feel our fans can play a key part tonight. We would ask them to come out in their numbers and we would ask them to become very vocal because they can be a great help to us, especially in games like this where we need to go and put as much pressure on the opposition as we can. From a playing point of view we will obviously go and work as hard as we can to get the three points.

We will certainly be freshening up, we have got a lot of very good players coming back. Matty Hill is also included, Matty has come through training which is good and he is back in along with the two cup-tied lads, we also  have McKenna and Nugent back who were suspended. It’s looking nice and healthy.

We know that they have got good players and an excellent strikeforce as we saw on Saturday when they had Jon Macken on the bench. That was my on concern when I looked at our bench and I saw young Warren Beattie and Ashley Parillon and young David Hibbert starting his first game, although we are bringing players back it certainly won’t make the game any easier because we are going to have to work very hard to go and win three points. It is nice to have the depth of squad that we have for this game.

They have also got one or two changes that we can make with people like McAnuff, Ward, Macken and Hughes coming on to the park and they have also got a huge depth of squad and they can make many changes. Likewise we are just delighted that we can bring in a couple of fresh faces and some fresh legs.

The plan that we have got is to see how they can handle David Nugent. I think it is all about us, we know that they have got good players, many other clubs have, our target is to get three points to keep the good run going and make it 21 games without defeat. It will be very important if we can do that and push ourselves above Palace, it’s there for both teams with the position that we are in. It is all about getting our best players playing to their full potential and if we can do that then we know that we can cause a lot of problems.

It is just another game, it is preparing for a game of football with the personnel that we have got. Inbetween the two Palace games there is a very important away league match at Stoke that we have got to concentrate on.

At the end of the day, let’s not be kidded, it was a wonderful wonderful free-kick. It has actually worked three times. David Kelly was the first one to score for Motherwell Football club against Aberdeen at Pittodrie when I took him up to Scotland and he scored with the free-kick. Richard Cresswell was the second and now without a doubt the best finish was David Nugent. When it works it is nice but especially in a derby match, we work very hard at set-pieces as everybody knows and we will try and pull out one or two more before the end of the season. The one against Burnley was particularly pleasing because it is the quality of the keep-up from Graham Alexander and then the weight of pass over the wall but it is the sublime finish from David Nugent, to show that technique with the ball coming over the wall is a delight. I’m sure if that was Barcelona they would be showing that on many videos but with little Preston North End it may not be as such.

It was a very good performance, an excellent result. We knew it would be tough and we knew that it would be a difficult match and very competitive which it turned out to be but I thought we thoroughly deserved the three points. It was an excellent team performance as well as many very good individual performances.

That’s what he is capable of, he leads by example and you can see that with his workrate and i thought that he struck up a very good partnership with David Nugent. We now have in my opinion five excellent strikers including young David Hibbert who was unfortunate to be left out tonight. We have now got that group of players to contribute greatly between now and the end of the season, I thought Brett was first class.

Believe it or not he has not even had a training session because of the weather we have had in the last couple of days we have not had to do the training we would like. He came in and we had one or two laughs and he got to meet the boys, he has settled in very quickly with a great bunch of lads and you can see that with the attitude he had tonight. We were playing against a club with huge resources, you look at their bench and the people they are bringing on and for us to compete it is very very proud for us to go out there and compete the way that we did and to get the three points is a tremendous bonus for us. We are one away from avoiding relegation which is good and that was  the important thing.

The second goal was straight from the training ground again, it was a wonderful corner kick with great movement and great runs with people that we have asked to go and do what they have done. It was a great great goal and we are very proud and pleased again and thankfully they listened for a change which was nice.

There may be some loan situations that we will look at, I think we can still do that after the next seven days or so. We would still like to try and introduce one or two if possible, it will be difficult but we certainly try and get some kind of loan in, if we don’t then we are very well equipped as long as we keep everybody free of suspension and free of injury.

This lad has come back from a terrible run of injuries and I have said to the board and the people at the club that the lad just needed time to come in and play and as far as I am concerned if this lad doesn’t go international in the next couple of years then there is something far wrong because again his performance today was first class. I think it was in the 88th minute, he has opened his legs and you can see the pace and the energy and the enthusiasm, he has been excellent.

He can play right-back, centre-back, he can play outside-right, outside-left, centre forward and I think his best position is right-back, but he can play anywhere, he has got great attributes.

I think he is Scottish actually.

Unfortunately we have been denied requests of trying to do something and that is unfortunate. We will have to look at it again and hopefully try and bring one or two more in, we know that there are one or two gaps and we would like to strengthen one or two areas so it’s something we will look at. I think we will have to look at one or two of our own players going out on loan for a bit of experience which we will do for the next seven days.

It’s just a reluctance to go and let good players go and the ones we ask about we just can’t quite get there. We have certainly tried but unfortunately the door keeps getting closed, especially in Scotland.

The first 45 we played some great stuff and should have been more in front unfortunately we hit the post and whatever else we have done. But it was a tremendous first 45, a tremendous performance from the players and an excellent three points.

That was the biggest fear at half-time, we couldn’t take the foot off the pedal but we have certainly done that in the second half I feel. We stopped working as hard as we were doing in the first half, we became a little bit slack and we lost a soft goal. It was disappointing to lose the goal but it is expected over a long 90 minutes that something like that is going to happen. It is great credit to the players again, after the long journey from Plymouth and then coming back and finding it difficult to train in the last couple of days, it has been an excellent performance and somebody was telling me that that is seven defeats in 47 matches so we are on a good run and we have got to keep it going.

We are delighted obviously, we are delighted with the goalscorers, tremendous goals, Adam Nowland, Sedge and Grezza I’m pleased for them. They really worked hard today.

Sadly we are losing young David Jones who is going to Holland, he’s joining NEC Nijmegen. We’d like to thank Manchester United for giving us David, we’d like to thank David for all his tremendous efforts and we’d like to wish him all the very best for the future.

It’s until the end of the season. I got the information a couple of days ago when David informed me that both himself and United think that for his development, a spell in Holland will be good for his education. It’s another blow because we have had a lot of transition this season, but in 2005 to have seven defeats in 47 matches, through the transition that we have had to come through, with the chopping and changing of players, illnesses and injuries, young players coming in, it has been very difficult. Now we have got to start again and we have still got gaps to fill, I’ll sit down with the Chairman and hopefully find out if we can bring in a few bodies which I think we need.

His patter is unfortunately not as good as Eddie Lewis’ but he has certainly got a lovely left-foot, he’s only a young player, a young player that is still developing and you can see that with his strength and other parts of his game. But he’s certainly a talent and we just have to be patient with the likes of David Hibbert, Joe Anyinsah and Lewis Neal and Tyrone Mears coming back into it, Patrick Agyemang and David Nugent, when you look at the side it is a very young side, patience is the key and we will try and develop them as best we can.

His last few games have been first class, I’ve said to him today that he has been unlucky. I don’t think we will see the best of David Nugent until he gets a pre-season, I think the three month illness really set him back a long way. He’s now coming back to his best and getting better but I really don’t think that he will get the benefit until he gets a pre-season under his belt and then kicks on from there. He thoroughly deserved a goal, his workrate is excellent, his play, his quality and roll on the 31st of January.

Without a doubt, we lost Brian O’Neil today, he’s pulled a groin and he’s out for probably two to three weeks. So at this moment in time, it looks as if Dickson Etuhu is going to Norwich on a permanent, so we are very short in that midfield area. There are one or two headaches but we will look at the market over the next month and the intention is to try and hold on to everybody and then bring in three or four new faces.

It depends what’s available, we don’t know what’s available, with regards to cash or loans or whatever it might be. I don’t know we have to sit down with the Chairman and find out what we do have, once we find that out then we can try and take it forward with regards the options that we have and the type of money that we have got.

Nothing’s changed since the start of the season. We are only human, we are going to have days off, one or two off days where we are not quite at it. But we have done nothing different but the response from the players at the end of 2005 was first class