IN the latest of his online columns, DANIEL GRIGG weighs up the implications of last Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Derby for Crystal Palace.

AGAINST Derby at the weekend, Dougie Freedman gave striker Steffen Iversen the rare chance to play alongside James Vaughan as part of a two-man strike force.

However, Freedman couldn’t give his centre forward the support he needed and was unable to field a genuine winger to send in the quality crosses which everybody knows Iversen loves to feed off.

The Norweigan striker still has the talent, but if you’re going to feed him with scraps, you’re not going to see a shark inside the box.

Vaughan and Iversen’s only major moments of the game came in the first half, as did so much of Crystal Palace’s good play.

Kagisho Dikgacoi linked up brilliantly with Vaughan, only for the on loan striker to be denied by a very alert Frank Fielding.

Iversen had little room to do much with the rebound, which was cleared off the line after he’d made a little space and shot from a tight angle.

At the back, the loss of Patrick McCarthy seemed to have taken its toll, with Claude Davis and Anthony Gardner far too similar to play together, both severely lacking pace.

Dean Moxey and Nathaniel Clyne were impressive, particularly Moxey, playing against the club he started the season with and hitting a sweetly-struck volley.

Though defeat had looked on the cards until the last few minutes when the foul on Neil Danns had allowed Darren Ambrose to coolly slot away the penalty, it would have been harsh to have got nothing from the game, considering the balance of play was largely with Palace.

It was a decent enough display by Freedman‘s team, but the two home points dropped against a struggling Derby side, were made to look a lot worse thanks to Sheffield United‘s victory over Leeds.

That was the second consecutive win for Micky Adams' side at Brammall Lane and it will be a major worry if Sheffield United can match or even out-perform Palace at home until the end of the season, considering the worst away record in the Championship is still well and truly Palace’s.

It's looking again like a straight fight now between Palace and another Sheffield club on the decline to beat the drop to League One.

Dougie Freedman will hope that his team, after all the problems they faced last season, has the quality to avoid another tense final day of the season like the one less than a year ago, when Palace clung on to send Sheffield Wednesday tumbling through the trap door.

So far Freedman’s done all that could have been asked of him, gradually making the little improvements and taking the necessary steps towards achieving the club’s number one target this season - survival.

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