August 12 2002

Stephen Kabba

Trevor Francis admitted after the Preston game that Stephen Kabba could have been playing for Grimsby at the weekend.

Kabba, who scored Palace's winning goal, in their 2-1 win over Preston, has been a target of Paul Groves, Grimsby's manager, and he was keen to get him on-loan.

Kabba stayed with the Palace squad though, as Dele Adebola, who played in two pre-season games, failed to agree personal terms with the club.

Francis said : "If we had got Adebola, Kabba would have gone to Grimsby. It's a strange quirk really."

Kabba replaced Riihilahti in the second half and scored an unstoppable strike from the end of the 18 yard box, to net Palace's first win of the season.