PALACE boss Dougie Freedman was in an upbeat mood following his side’s hard earned 2-2 draw at Reading.

Speaking after watching the Royals complete their celebratory promotion lap of honour he said: “We had a bad spell in the first half.

“We had an injury in the warm up and then the goalkeeper was off and then the centre half was off – we were really struggling as we are a small squad.

“This was a case of one Premier league team playing one who is aspiring to be that.

“We showed we have got a fantastic future as we could have won the game.

“Reading had one chance in the second half and scored from it. We need to be more like that.”

When asked about Glenn Murray’s performance alone up front, he told reporters: “ He did well. It’s not all about scoring goals and getting hat-tricks.

“He worked really hard and lead the line well. He was excellent today.

“Remember Reading are the best team in this division. We got a draw against them and that is going to help us move forward. We’re on the right path.”

“Games like today are great experience for the future. On the evidence of today we’re not too far away.”

When asked if he thought the referee Andy D’Urso was right to send off Jason Roberts, he replied: “I don’t know what happened.

“Jason Roberts is not that type of player but without seeing it I can’t really comment.

“I am not going to sit here and point fingers. Referees have a tough job to tell whether it is intentional or not.”