March 14 2002

Crystal Palace

Trevor Francis is not going to rush Under-17 England international Wayne Routledge into his first team plans.

Academy youth player Routledge, has been putting in several impressive performances for the England U-17 team, scoring three times in the last two games.

He also scored in the recent reserve cup game against Epsom and Ewell.

Francis sees Routledge as one for the future and would prefer to see him take one step at a time in his aim to get into the first team squad.

Francis said: "He is a really promising player but maybe needs to be a regular for the reserves first."