October 6 2008

Shefki Kuqi

Crystal Palace misfit Shefki Kuqi has apologised for gesturing to the fans last season.

The frontman was slapped on the transfer list by boss Neil Warnock in February after his reaction to the crowd while walking off the pitch against Wolves.

He was shipped out on loan to Ipswich shortly afterwards and did not seem to have a future at the club with James Scowcroft, Alan Lee, Calvin Andrew and now Craig Beattie ahead of him in the pecking order.

But Kuqi leapt off the bench to notch Palace's second goal and his first in 18 months to seal a much-needed 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

He said: "The ball came through and I saw the goalkeeper had come out. All I thought was to turn and put it over the keeper. I knew if I could turn that would be it.

"It was a great moment because it has been a long time since I have scored. It is always nice to get on the score sheet, especially when the game is 1-0 with 10 minutes to go.

"I apologise to the fans and I want to pay them back. I'm not the kind of person who is happy to get paid and not be playing. It's been a hard couple of months for me but I had to cope with things.

"If someone hates me when I've had a bad time they should trust me that no-one hates me more than I do myself. All I want to do is play and enjoy my football.

"I'm just looking to have a good finish to the season - but anything can happen in football, you can never be 100 per cent sure of what's going to happen.

"All I want to do is score a few goals this season and pay something back to the fans. At one stage it looked as though I would never play for Palace again. But football is a funny game and anything can happen."