Championship - Warnock blasts 'farcical' defending
Eurosport - Wed, 29 Oct 13:36:00 2008
Crystal Palace boss Neil Warnock was furious as his side conceded two "farcical" goals in a 2-1 home defeat to Nottingham Forest.
The visitors moved off the bottom of the Championship table with their first away success of the season following six defeats on the road.
Warnock had been unhappy with the way his players had conceded in the 2-2 draw at Blackpool at the weekend but reckoned Forest's goals were even more painful.
He said: "Their goals were just comedy. You'd probably win £250 on Candid Camera for that second one.
"It's a joke. At this level you shouldn't concede goals like that.
"That's four goals in the last four games that have been absolutely farcical.
"The two at Blackpool were a disgrace but that second one topped it off."
Forest took the lead in the 28th-minute through a moment Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni will want to forget.
Midfielder Chris Cohen lofted a free-kick into a crowded box from a position some 40 yards from goal near the right touchline.
Forest skipper Ian Breckin went up for it but did not seem to get a touch before the ball reared off the turf and bounced past the startled Speroni and into the net.
Palace thought substitute Shefki Kuqi had earned a point after the Finn, on at the break for the ineffective Craig Beattie, drilled a low shot past Forest goalkeeper Lee Camp from the edge of the box in the 75th minute - and celebrated with a huge bellyflop dive.
But Forest substitute Matt Thornhill, who had replaced Joe Garner eight minutes previously, had other ideas and won it for the visitors in the 81st minute following a huge scramble in the Palace box.
James Perch saw Speroni make a brave save but the ball ran loose and, after a defender had cleared off the line, Thornhill made no mistake with the help of a deflection.
Forest manager Colin Calderwood said: "A win on the back of a good performance is a nice reward.
"It was no better a performance than I've seen in five or six other games but we got a goal in a decent period.
"Then when it was 1-1 we had better opportunities than they had.
"We have not had one game where we have looked like a side that might go down."
Calderwood also insisted reports that Andrew Cole had retired were premature and that the former England striker could even play against Derby at the weekend.
He said: "He is still our player. The situation is the same as always.
"He was not available tonight but possibly might be at the weekend."
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Comment 1 - 2 of 2
Same old, Same old. I'm a life long Palace fan and this is the same old song. Palace are never going to win anything as they always try to do it on the cheap. In the past as now they get or produce a special player that can win games, then they sell them or that player want's away. A previous owner of Palace once said "the club has to sell to survive", the present owner has done well but can't afford to buy the kind of players that can bring success to the club and he doesn't want to pay or can't afford to pay the kind of wages their asking for. Let's face it, Palace are a small club with big ambitions that will never be realised. " Your everywhere and nowhere Palace that's where you at, but there is no silver lining. Palace once produced a home grown team that were tiped as the team of the eighties they were as a team brilliant and brought a lot of success to the club. Then the following year came the big sell off to Tottenham, Arsenal and a host of other top flight clubs. The team of the eighties did it for those other clubs and Palace went down, then up, then down, etc, etc, no wonder they were called the Yo-Yo club. I hope before I die Palace make the grade, but I dought that day will come.
Same old nonsense and rhetoric from Warnock about Palace's woeful defending. Yet Warnock allowed our best defender, Hudson, to leave on a free and purchased inadequate replacements in McCarthy and Ertl. Palace are going nowhere under Warnock and their style of play is less than pleasing. When can we long-suffering Palace fans expect Warnock to do the decent thing and resign for the sake of the club and our own enjoyment. I am fed u listening to Warnock slag off the team's inadequacies when the fault lies at his and his coaching staff's feet.
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