October 19 2003

Steve Kember

A STEVE KEMBER half-time roasting of his players inspired Palace to pull a goal back and rescue a point in the 1-1 draw at home to Rotherham.

Chris Swailes gave the Millers a 32nd minute lead before Dougie Freedman netted the equaliser in the 57th minute.

KEMBER said: "There was a bit of a rucking at half-time over the performance in that first half. We were better after the break, we didn’t give the ball away as much as we did in the opening half.

"It was a case of two very different performances from us today. After the break we played more positively and had we played like that in the first half we would have run out comfortable winners. But the fact is we didn’t do well in the opening half and they punished us."

He added: "I was disappointed with their goal. Darren Powell switched off and allowed his man to have a free header. He held his hands up at half-time and accepted responsibility for the goal. You just can’t allow that sort of thing to happen.

"Neil Shipperley isn't playing at his best at the moment and he'd be the first to admit that. I’ll stick by him though because we need his physical presence up front.

"On a more positive note, I was pleased with Danny Butterfield’s performance. He’s a good player who is getting better and better all the time.

"He actually played with a bad calf today so fair play to him because he did very well in the middle for us."