Crystal Palace's fall into the relegation zone may be a good thing, says Crystal Palace captain Shaun Derry.

Saturday's 1-0 home defeat by Coventry was their third in a row in the league and saw the Eagles slip into the bottom three for the first time this season.

They have not been in the third tier of English football since 1977 but Derry is hopeful that the lowly placing might make the squad realise relegation is strong possibility if their form doesn't improve.

"I would like to look at it as a positive," said the 32 year-old.

"I know this is going to seem weird but we knew we were in trouble three or four weeks ago and we knew we were going to have some hard times around the corner.

"Hopefully though this beats home that we are in a relegation fight.

"Results haven't gone for us and some would say the performances haven't been clever since the Scunthorpe game, aside from the cup game, but we are where we are.

"We are in a position that was forced upon us but it is only up to ourselves to get us out of it.

"I don't want to sound glad we are in the bottom three but it hits home now, you look at the league and the league doesn't lie.

"We are there for a reason and we have to try our hardest to get out of it.

"There's going to be a lot of twists and turns before the end of the season.

"Certain clubs are going on runs, others are on sticky patches.

"I like to think this is our sticky patch and we can come out of it."

Palace play Aston Villa in their FA Cup fifth round replay tomorrow night, but it is Saturday's match at Doncaster Rovers that Derry is setting his sights on.

"Tomorrow will take care of itself, our main priority is Saturday," he said.

"We will enjoy tomorrow but in the meantime one or two of us have got to perhaps put our arms around a few others and keep the faith.

"That has not been needed many times this season though and I cannot see that being a problem."