An upbeat Terry Venables watched his battling young Eagles brush Bury aside after an impressive fightback then vowed to continue his search for new talent.

Rangers' centre half Craig Moore is expected to be the first new recruit when he joins the Eagles in a £700,000 deal. Palace were finalising personal terms for the 23-year-old Australian international centre half as the Guardian went to press. Moore would be the latest Aussie to link up with former national coach El Tel following the signings of Craig Foster and Nicky Rizzo but Venables said he was still "looking to bring one or two new players in."

And a nervy defensive display against the Shakers showed why.

He said: "We created a lot of chances but were sloppy down the left-hand side. Even so we did well to come back and score four against a team that doesn't concede many goals, and I was pleased with the way we stuck at it."

Palace had dominated the first half but sloppy defending gifted the visitors a 2-1 half time lead. Goals from Nick Daws and old boy Andy Preece sandwiched Paul Warhurst's fine 13th minute strike.

But a storming second half performance which brought three goals in 17 minutes and wiped out the deficit.

After Bruce Dyer's equalising header on 48 minutes, Palace took control. Further strikes from Clinton Morrison and a penalty won by sub Sasa Curcic and coolly converted by Attilio Lombardo sealed the win.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.