February 17 2004

Andy Johnson

Division One top scorer Andy Johnson is ready to discuss extending his Crystal Palace contract.

The former Birmingham striker has been in the form of his life, bagging a hat-trick in Saturday's 6-3 win at home to Stoke and has now scored 24 goals.

He said: "I am really happy here and I want to stay at the club. Things are going well for me and I'm looking forward to discussing a new contract but for the time being I am concentrating on my football."

Boss Iain Dowie said: "The chairman and Andy have been in discussions about a new contract, it's something we'd like to do.

"We very much hope that he'll be our player for a few years to come, but he's got two years left on his current contract anyway.

"He enjoys it here. He likes living here and his family are settled so we'll see what happens. People may think the grass is always greener elsewhere but I'm not sure it is."