April 22 2005

Joonas Kolkka

Joonas Kolkka admitted that he was considering his Crystal Palace future during his spell out of the Eagles line-up, but after his recall on Saturday he's now concentrating on keeping his place, by Stuart Pink.

The 30-year-old Finnish international netted his third goal of the season against Norwich on Saturday in what was his first starting appearance since Boxing Day.

But Kolkka admits being overlooked for several months was hard to take, which led to the former PSV Eindhoven man doubting his Palace future.

Kolkka said: "That's football, one day everything is going great and the next day you sit on the bench, that's not so nice.

"It is frustrating, everybody wants to play.

"If you don't play you start to think about things but I feel I am fit and it felt like a normal game against Norwich, it was nice to play."

Palace boss Iain Dowie was quick to praise the Eagles winger for his performance and indicated the Finn will remain in the side for tonight's Wednesday visit to Ewood Park.

Dowie said: "He's technically very, very good. He lost his place in the side with injury and didn't really get back and had a dip in form, but he's come back of late and looked sharp.

"He keeps the ball very well, good pace and he took it his goal very well. He's got two great feet.

"He showed what he's about, that's three good goals he's got this year, not bad the other two places to score Old Trafford and Anfield. Let's hope he repeats the feat on Wednesday night."

Kolkka's early strike brought back memories of the goal he scored in front of the Kop against Liverpool at Anfield in November, which is something the Eagles midfield have been struggling to achieve all season, with Michael Hughes and Aki Riihilahti the only other Palace midfielders to find the target this season.

Kolkka said: "Yes it was nice for me to score because I haven't played for a long time. I was just on for a couple of minutes on the field and I scored which was great."

Now Kolkka hopes he can keep his place for the remainder of the season and play a vital part in keeping the Eagles in the Premiership. Something he is confident his side can achieve.

Kolkka added: "Of course there will be more and more pressure with the coming games. But we have just got to do our best.

"In the last 15 minutes we were just pressing and everybody can see that we still can get something. We just have to keep going and have confidence for the coming games."

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