February 7 2010

Neil Warnock

Neil Warnock hailed the character of his Crystal Palace side after they won 2-1 at Scunthorpe.

Poverty-stricken Palace, who are in administration, claimed a dramatic win over 10-man Scunthorpe thanks to Neil Danns' stoppage time winner.

Darren Ambrose had put Palace ahead until David Mirfin equalised before Danns struck late on to help push Palace up to 16th in the table.

"This business has drawn us all closer together, both players and supporters," said Warnock.

"These players just do not know when they are beaten. This was our third tough match within the space of a week.

"Scunthorpe is always a difficult place to come and you have to approach it with the same sort of attitude that you would a game at Newcastle.

"Scunthorpe are a team that always give everything they have and to be fair I thought they were the better side in the first half.

"We did not deal with their direct approach very well. It was like I used to say when I was a manager up north, we looked like southern softies.

"But in the second half I told my players that now they had found their legs, this was a game we could go on and win. I thought we had that extra bit of quality.

"Our opening goal from Darren Ambrose was a terrific finish. Only he could have scored that.

"It was disappointing that we let Scunthorpe come back on level terms after going down to 10 men but Neil Danns has come up with a last-gasp winner and it's a terrific result for us."

Scunthorpe manager Nigel Adkins said: "It was disappointing to have a player sent off and we shall be looking to see if we can appeal.

"This is only the third game in 11 that we have been beaten and each time it has come after we have suffered from red cards.

"Having said that, we had chances early in the game that we should have taken. It should have been beyond reach for Palace by half-time.

"I warned my players they had to be aware of the threats from Palace at set-pieces and it was disappointing their first goal came from a corner.

"Overall, I was pleased with our performance but it is a result like this that just reminds us how difficult it is to get points at Championship level."