January 27 2005

Mikele Leigertwood

Mikele Leigertwood said he's "going to have words with the announcer" after his first goal for Palace was wrongly credited to Tom Soares over the stadium tannoy, by Stuart Pink.

But the former Wimbledon man is ready to forgive as he was still beaming after his strike put Palace on their way to an impressive victory over their London rivals Spurs.

Leigertwood said: "I'm going to have words with the announcer, but it's one of those things.

"I'm just happy to get on the score-sheet and even better to get three points in the bag."

Before the game, Leigertwood had only scored three goals in his professional career but he thinks playing in his new midfield role will give him more chances to score, as he did so expertly on Saturday.

Leigertwood said: "The build-up was going on the lefthand side and I thought there's a gap there so I made my way into the box.

"The ball came in and it was actually too far in front of me but I managed to stick out a leg and it got there, and bounced off the bar and I thought it's not going to go in and luckily it did."

The 22-year-old is clearly revelling in his new role and is happy to do a job for his manager, who has reassured him of the objectives he needs to fulfil to play there.

Leigertwood added: "It's good but it's a lot of hard work and a lot of running but you've just got to get on with it really.

"The manager just said get in their faces, he's happy for me to get on the ball and try and do what I can.

"I gave a few balls away but he doesn't mind that as much.

"He said you're going to make mistakes but get on with it and try and get the next one right."

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