Shipperley aims to get back in Palace side

Manchester Utd 2 Crystal Palace 0

Neil Shipperley today said he is confident his injury nightmare is over.

The striker made his first-team comeback as a second half substitute in Crystal Palace's 2-0 Carling Cup defeat at Manchester United last night.

It was his first competitive appearance since tapping-in the winner in the play-off final against West Ham in May because of tendinitis in his knee. The persistent injury left Shipperley in pain last season but he had no problems or reaction from it at Old Trafford.

The 30-year-old said: "I had been itching to play - it has been a very long time for me. I am very confident in the knee now. I had a jab a few weeks ago and have not felt anything since so, hopefully, that will be the last of that and I can concentrate on trying to get back in the team.

"Fitness-wise I am okay as I have not missed a lot of training even though I have not been right. I could probably do with a few more matches but I am not far behind the other players." Shipperley only played for the final 14 minutes last night but he came close to scoring twice and gave Iain Dowie's team a much needed cutting edge. The manager was pleased with what the striker produced but the fans' favourite knows there is stiff competition for first-team places.

Palace's Andrew Johnson is one of the country's form goalscorers and even though Dowie prefers to play a lone frontman, he also has three strikers who were added to the squad this year and Dougie Freedman is still at the club.

Shipperley said: "I have never been at a club with a squad as massive as this. The gaffer might need to get rid of a few people but the main thing is trying to get in the side."

From Dowie's reaction to the performance against United's out of favour stars, few if any of the team he fielded have a chance of keeping their place at Liverpool on Saturday.

Substitutes Shipperley, Ivan Kaviedes and Vassilis Lakis earned positive mentions along with 18-year-old midfielder Tom Soares, but the manager was disappointed by the overall performance.

He rested every player who started in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal last weekend and saw his second string undone by two soft goals before a fruitless second-half fightback.

Louis Saha was allowed to chest the ball down between Mark Hudson and Gary Borrowdale in Palace's six-yard area after 22 minutes and then squeeze the ball past Julian Speroni.

The keeper then let a Kieran Richardson shot slip through his hands for the second 16 minutes later. The Argentine also dropped a clanger when he gave away a penalty against Everton earlier in the season but Dowie refused to blame him.

The manager said: "It was not his fault we lost. They were poor defensive goals and there were a lot more performances not up to scratch."

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