Palace winger admits he should score more

8:00am Wednesday 19th November 2008

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Crystal Palace winger Paul Ifill believes he needs to give more to the side despite starting the Eagles last 13 matches.

The 29-year-old is enjoying his best run in the team since singing from Sheffield United in 2007 and has begun more games this season than he did in the previous one and a half campaigns put together.

"You read on the forums and in the papers how most people are agreeing with his decision and that I’m injury prone and you start thinking that maybe you can prove a few people wrong."

Paul Ifill

However, the Barbados international admitted the Palace fans have yet to see the best of him.

“I have still got a way to go,” he said.

“In terms of working hard it is the hardest I have been made to work for Palace and I have shown glimpses of what I can do but there is more to come.

“I should be setting up more goals and scoring more goals.

“When I got in the team I was aiming for 10 games but I got past that and now I’m looking at 20 and if I manage that I can hopefully stay in the team for the rest of the season.”

Having made just 11 starts for the club before August, Ifill admitted his injury problems had raised the possibility that he would have to retire from the game.

He said: “It just felt like I was never going to be able to sprint again without feeling my hamstring “People kept mentioning that I might have to retire and it becomes frustrating.

“It sticks in your head and it is hard to shake it but I came back feeling pretty good and had a good pre-season.

“But a few things went wrong form wise and the manager put me on the list.”

Neil Warnock’s decision to transfer list the former Millwall man in August seemed to spur new life into Ifill, and he believes it gave them the impetus to prove people wrong.

He said: “You read on the forums and in the papers how most people are agreeing with his decision and that I’m injury prone and you start thinking that maybe you can prove a few people wrong.

“I knew if I kept working hard in training he would change his decision and give me an opportunity and he did.”

Crystal Palace’s next three matches: Nov 22 Bristol City (h), 25 Norwich (a), 29 QPR (h).