Palace pair likely to miss Bristol clash

By James Cunliffe Monday, August 20, 2012
7:02 AM

Bristol City v Crystal Palace preview: Boss Dougie Freedman won’t rush injury returns for Eagles duo

Crystal Palace captain Paddy McCarthy and Jonathan Williams are doubts for tomorrow’s trip to Bristol City.

Manager Dougie Freedman admitted that the latter has continued to experience complications from a bone break last season, while a niggling groin strain is delaying the introduction of his skipper.

The Eagles boss is keen to play the waiting game and make sure both are fully fit, rather than rushing them back into action.

“Johnny Williams has got a calf strain,” Freedman said. “He’s coming along but it’s a result of his broken leg from last year.

“Small injuries keep on occurring around that broken leg and we just need to very careful with him.

“It’s maybe another week or so for him.

“Paddy’s groin is playing up. He’s had since the Reading game, so we’ve just got to be strong.

“I did it last season but there’s no use in just throwing people in there and hoping for the best.

“When they come back we’ll be a lot stronger.”

Palace lost their opening Championship game 3-2 to Watford on Saturday, with the Hornets shocking the hosts with two goals late on to come from behind.

He admitted that it may take some time for some of his summer signings to bed in, but refused to use that as an excuse for their defeat.

“I think a couple of our players need time to settle in but as a defensive unit we’ve got to be better than that to win games,” he said.

“We probably didn’t deserve to win the match but I don’t think it was a case of too many new players.

“I felt that in the last ten minutes of the game we didn’t focus on our jobs as well as we should have.

“There aren’t any excuses on why or why not but we’ll look at the video, we’ll assess it and move on quickly.”