Pressure off for Palace

Kit Symons has been given another month to prove he is the right man to take over as Crystal Palace manager.

The 32-year-old central defender has been in temporary charge for the last month while chairman Simon Jordan decides who will replace Steve Kember permanently.

In his four games in charge, Palace have won one and drawn three. "I feel we have made progress," said Symons ahead of tonight's fourth-round Carling Cup clash away to Aston Villa.

"I know all managers say these kind of things, but we should have won at least one more. At least one of the draws should have been a win - especially the one against Coventry last Saturday when they equalised in the last minute. We were comfortably ahead, had other chances but the later the game went with us just one goal ahead, then a kind of apprehension set in.

"We got nervous, but that can happen when, like us, a team have had a bad run. But I think the chairman is reasonably pleased with the way things have been going. He came to see me and my assistant Stuart Gray after the game and told us we had played well and that we were doing well.

"He also said that he would like us to carry on until the end of the month wh i le he makes up his mind what to do.

"I can understand his position. He doesn't want to be rushed into making a decision and I can see that.

"I would love the job on a full-time basis and he knows that. We will just have to see how we do in the next four weeks because the bottom line is I will be judged on results, just like any manager.

"We have been working hard on the training pitch to get ourselves more organised and we have definitely become harder to beat now. We've kept two clean sheets and only conceded two goals since I took over." Dedication to the job comes at a price. Symons is playing as well as managing - and he will be in the team at Villa Park because Rob Edwards, on loan from the midlands club, has been barred from taking part - and that means his post-training routine has been severely disrupted because of the additional responsibilities.

"There are so many factors to management," said Symons. "Things you don't think about or are not aware of as a player. I knew about many of them but there are so many apparently simple things to organise but they are all very important.

"Like sorting things out for the away trips . . . the food, making sure we have water and bananas on the coach. They have to be done and it is the manager's job to organise that. But I haven't been surprised by it."

If Jordan decides to look elsewhere, Symons will revert to his playing role, which will mean mingling with some of the players he may have temporarily alienated by leaving them out of the team.

"I can't see there being a problem with that," he said. "The players have been fine with me. They still call me 'Kit' rather than 'Gaffer'."

The training ground and practice games would provide the ideal opportunity to vent frustration at the manager's decisions, but Symons insisted: "There has been nothing like that - although Ben Watson, in a keep-ball session, studded me. But that was an accident . . . at least I hope it was!"

On to tonight and a break from the pressures of scrapping for points at the wrong end of the First Division. "The pressure is on them, isn't it?" said Symons.

"Maybe we will relax a bit. Of course I want to win it but maybe there won't be that apprehension I talked about in our play."

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