Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock is not demanding that his players reach the play-offs despite the club's late charge into the top six.

Warnock took over at Palace last October with the club struggling in the bottom half of the Championship, and their current run of ten games unbeaten has seen them move up into sixth place.

Should they hold that position for the final two games of the season, they will qualify for the play-off semi-finals where their most likely opponents will be third-placed Hull City, where they will travel this weekend.

But Warnock, who has been both on the losing side in a play-off final with Sheffield United in 2003 at the Millennium Stadium, insists that the club's season is already a success even if they do not finish in the top six.

Warnock said: "I've said to the players 'Let's not have any fear. If we get beat, so what? If we don't get another point, so what?'

"We've had a great season, and that's how we've got to go into it, and I feel like that myself. If we didn't get in, I wouldn't fault the players."

However, Warnock does admit that, on a personal level, he would feel let down if the south-east London side didn't qualify for a chance to appear at the national stadium.

He said: "I'd love to pit my wits in the play-offs. I love the play-offs, especially now they're back at Wembley, my favourite place."

Tony Mabert / Eurosport