November 25 2002

Crystal Palace

Dele Adebola insists more is to come after he broke his goal drought by getting Palace’s second goal in the 2-0 win at home to Grimsby.

Shaun Derry scored his first goal for the club since his move from Portsmouth in the summer on 39 minutes with a deflected shot from 18 yards.

Adebola doubled the advantage a minute past the hour with a sweet left-foot shotfrom inside the penalty box.

He said: “I don’t think the fans understand. I was out a long time and still have a problem with sharpnesss. There is probably another 20 per cent to come. I didn’t expect too much this season but my work rate is higher than it was at Birmingham. I feel I am doing enough to stay in the team.”

Eagles boss Trevor Francis agreed: “It was good to see Adebola on the scoresheet and he worked tirelessly today.

“He takes alot of the physical pressure off Johnson and if he had relaxed a bit he would have scored a few more.

“His goal was really well-taken and he rolled the defender onto his favoured left-foot before finishing with a cracking shot.”

Darren Powell and Steve Thomson went close for the hosts with long-range shots before Derry got the opener.

Alex Kolinko was called into action on 51, saving Alan Pouton's excellent free-kick before Adebola got the second. Derry saw his 25-yard free-kick hit the crossbar shortly after as Palace held onto the points in front of the crowd of 20,093.

Francis added: “Although we did not play that well it was important we did a professional job and took the points.

“We worked hard in midfield without being spectacular and reduced them to just a handful of chances.

“When you play Grimsby you expect to win, and it took a while for our players to get motivated.

“Grimsby are well-organised and showed a good attitude but we produced a solid performance and got the right result.

“I felt Grimsby had too much of the ball at the start of the second half and I was forced to change the formation to 4-4-2. It got us the result in the end.”

Francis brought on Gareth Williams, who is scoring for fun in the reserves and England Under-19 international Gary Borrowdale for his debut.

Francis added: “Williams replaced Andrew Johnson who has been suffering with a groin strain. It was a good time to bring him on as we had the ascendancy and were creating chances.

“I also gave Gary Borrowdale his debut and it shows the good young talent we have at the club.”