September 26 2001

Thrilled with victory

Eagles boss Steve Bruce was thrilled with yesterday's 3-1 victory over his former club Sheffield United.

A late double earned Palace the three points after conceding an equaliser late on.

Bruce said: "We didn't deserve to surrender the lead and it didn't looked like a free-kick. They didn't really created anything against us.

"But we've shown a bit of resilience and a bit of fight to get us back in the game."

The Palace manager was happy to see midfielder Hopkin return from injury and score a goal. He said: "Hopkin's worked like a beast to get himself fit."

"He's got a great attitude. It's terrific for him because this is his first game in six weeks."

The awarded penalty was dubious but Bruce thought the decision was correct. "It looked like three penalties to me, everyone in the ground knew it was a penalty," he said.

Losing manager Neil Warnock was less happy, but insists that the pressure on him will only encourage him to bring the best out of his side.

He said: "Now's the time for me to earn my money, it's not the time to throw in the towel."

"I've got to say the fans were magnificent. They got us back in the game and when we equalised I thought we would go on and win it, but we threw goals away at the end."