December 16 2001

Trevor Francis

A half-time Trevor Francis rollocking could not stop Palace from losing to in-form Watford at Vicarage Road yesterday.

The Eagles went put ina dire first half performance going in at the break a goal down and Francis was not a happy bunny.

He said: "For the first time since I had been in charge of Palace, I laid into my players at half-time. I didn't like what I had seen.

"They looked a bit sharper after being given a rocket at half-time. We needed to put them under pressure and our response was excellent.

"On another day we might have got a result. If we had scored early after the break I think it would have been very different."