EAGLES columnist SAM ROSS explains why he wants to see more of youngster Stuart O’Keefe in the first team now Crystal Palace’s play-off challenge is over.

SATURDAY’S 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest was a miserable day for Palace fans but one the Eagles will need to get over quickly if they are to avoid an end of season collapse.

And with Dougie Freedman admitting the Carling Cup run is finally catching up on his Palace players, it is slightly worrying looking ahead at the tough fixtures coming up.

Five of Palace's six remaining games are against teams all currently above the Eagles, as well as facing a Portsmouth side who will be fighting for survival come April 17.

Our play-off hopes were dashed after picking up just one point at home against Doncaster and Nottingham Forest in the last week and it is difficult to see Palace adding a great deal to the 54 points total they have achieved so far.

Many fans would have settled for a mid-table finish at the start of the season but there is no denying if Palace were to finish anywhere lower than 14th, it would be a slight injustice for a team who have only lost 12 times this season.

Often when teams enter the remaining stages of the campaign in mid-table, it is a time to allow some of the youngsters to come through and look ahead at the possibilities of the following season.

Palace have proudly played their youngsters throughout the season and it is too early to start looking ahead to next year in terms of player contracts.

As for bringing younger players through, I would like to see Stuart O'Keefe played in the absence of Mile Jedinak, as O'Keefe is one of the best young players we have and the proof of that was in this season's Carling Cup.

O'Keefe was surprisingly not a product of the Palace academy, but of Southend's.

At the age of just 20, the midfielder has a real future.

He is one of our better youngsters because, just like Nathaniel Clyne, when you play O'Keefe you can't afford for him to make mistakes in his position.

With O'Keefe a holding midfielder, a role he filled superbly in the Carling Cup quarter-final up at Old Trafford, he is expecting to break up the opposition's attack and set the Eagles up on their own.

That is a job he does extremely well and has received no recognition for.

One of O'Keefe's biggest attributes is his ability to read the game.

The next time you watch him play look out for his off the ball movement and more impressively his readiness to cover other players out of position.

He is a real talent who I would like to see play ahead of David Wright with Jedinak out for the remainder of the season.

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