February 1 2006

Iain Dowie

Iain Dowie slammed his side's shoddy showing after they crashed at Preston.

Brett Ormerod and Brian O'Neil scored to end Palace's nine-match unbeaten run and move above them in the table.

Dowie was furious with Palace's capitulation against their play-off rivals and said:"I was bitterly disappointed with the second half performance, for sure.

"They were better than we were in the second half, but for all of that we've conceded a sloppy goal and a set-piece.

"Outside of that they haven't really had chances galore.

"We probably had the two best chances of the game, but second half we didn't turn up and that's not acceptable."

Defeat in such an important clash left Dowie questioning his players' commitment.

He added: "We looked lacklustre, and in a big, big game we need to perform better than that.

"Preston were competitive and good luck to Billy's side, they deserved to win.

"But that was not a performance anywhere near what we're about and it's unrecognisable from the last nine games."