April 23 2006

Neil McDonald

Neil McDonald reckons Andy Johnson is the key to Palace's promotion hopes.

Eagles assistant boss McDonald was relieved to see Palace edge past Southampton thanks to goals from Johnson and Clinton Morrison.

McDonald believes Johnson can make the difference when Palace go into the play-offs.

He said: "AJ is a vital member of this football team and he is scoring for fun at the moment.

"I rate him very highly, he deserves to play at the top level and hopefully that will be with Crystal Palace."

McDonald admitted Palace were slightly fortunate to see off the Saints but believes plenty of lessons have been learned in recent weeks.

"It was a fantastic test for us because Southampton were the form team.

"We were slightly fortunate to win as Southampton created many chances but we stuck at it and came out with a good result.

"These last three or four games have been a learning curve for us to see what we are going to do in the play-offs.

"We are confident facing anyone. If we can build on today against Sheffield United next week it will give everyone confidence ahead of the two legs."