September 1 2009

Neil Warnock

Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock saluted Alan Lee who equalised in the 1-1 draw at Peterborough.

Irish striker Lee got his second goal of the season with a scrappy finish to cancel out Shaun Batt's opener for Posh before Paddy McCarthy was sent off in the 74th minute.

Warnock said: "Taking the 90 minutes into consideration I was delighted with the point. Even with 10 men we tried to push men forward but it's a decent result.

"Alan had to work hard up there and he always has a chance if he puts in a shift like that

"We couldn't sell him for the money which we still owed Ipswich so we had to keep him. Barnsley made us an offer but Ipswich wouldn't do us a favour on the finance front so he stayed.

"We wanted to move him on but I said to him there'll always be a chance for him here, so well done Alan."

McCarthy was dismissed for two bookings after continually fouling Posh striker Craig Mackail-Smith - but Warnock was not happy with the decision.

He said: "In the old days that would have been a cracking battle between centre-half and forward but we are too finicky at the minute with too many directives. God knows what they will do with two more officials behind the goals."

Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson said: "It was a missed opportunity to get our first win and it's two points dropped. We've never gone three games without winning since I've been here so it's something new to handle now it's five."