NEW Palace boss Trevor Francis said: "It would have been nice to start off with a win, it would have been nice to have not lost the game.

"On the balance of the game I though we were undeserved losers and we merited at least a share of the spoils. But we lost and that is always a disappointment at home.

"I did not interfere in team selection but I did shout from the touchline, there is nothing wrong with encouraging players.

"We are in the middle of a tough spell in terms of the teams we are playing against.

"What does concern me is the squad I have is not strong enough in terms of numbers.

"If you are pushing for a place in the play-offs you have to have a number of players you can call on when you have problems with injuries and suspensions."

Clarets manager Stan Ternent said: "We dug in, it was not our best performance. We were not as fluent as we have been but all credit to the players, they got stuck in.

"It was a battling performance and we won, that is the most important thing.

"That is the sign of a pretty good side, when you can win when you are not at your best.

"We played 4-5-1 cum 4-3-3 but it was not very fluent. We can play three at the back or 4-4-2. We cut our cloth depending on who we are playing.

"Everything is going okay at the moment but there will come a time when we will lose some games."