A sharp Palace performance wasn't enough to stop them being blunted by the Blades on Saturday.

Although their 1-0 defeat against Sheffield United was by the same score as their loss against Barnsley four days earlier, Saturday's performance was far more encouraging.

Palace chairman Simon Jordan offered refunds to Eagles fans who travelled to watch the Barnsley debacle.

But the Palace supremo didn't need to dip into his pocket again because his side were unlucky not to claim a point against United.

The Blades started the better of the two teams and should have taken the lead after 10 minutes.

American defender Gregg Berhalter, making only his second start for the Eagles cleared the ball as far as Paul Peschisolido who could only head over the bar.

But Palace squandered their first real opportunity on 16 minutes when Hayden Mullins volleyed Simon Rodger's cross over the bar.

Eagles striker Clinton Morrison also failed to make the most of a good opportunity midway through the first half.

The 21-year-old nipped the ball past Simon Tracey in the United goal only to see Robert Kosluk clear his effort off the line.

And Palace were pun-ished for their profligacy when Patrick Suffo scored United's winner on 55 min-utes.

Paul Devlin raided down the right wing before presenting Suffo with the opportunity to cut inside and fire past Kolinko.

The home side should have doubled their lead when Laurent D'Jaffo went though on goal only for an alert Kolinko to come to Palace's rescue again.

The Eagles, deter-mined to take something from the trip to Yorkshire, carried the fight to the Blades and came within inches of doing so when Andrejs Rubins' stoppage time effort scraped the top of the bar.

Unfortunately that was as good as it got for Palace who can now look to a Selhurst double-header to get their form back on track.

The Eagles face two tough home battles in the space of four days as Preston North End and Birmingham City travel to Selhurst Park.

Preston are first on the agenda and Palace will be looking to avenge the 2-0 defeat they suffered at Deepdale in September when they take on David Moyes side this Saturday.

Eagles boss Alan Smith had expected defender Fan Zhiyi to take some part in Palace's clashes last week. But the hamstring injury which prevented him from appearing in Yorkshire looks set to clear up in time for Saturday's game.

The Eagles may also give a full debut to new £1m signing Ricardo Fuller. The Jamaican striker made a fleeting substitute appearance against Barnsley and could make the starting line-up against Preston.

Tuesday's clash will give Palace the chance to deepen Birmingham's blues after City's Worthington Cup final defeat against Liverpool.

A Palace victory would be sweet revenge for their 2-1 defeat at St Andrews back in October.