Marsch hails ‘really big point’ against Palace

LEEDS BOSS Jesse Marsch hailed a hard-fought goalless draw at Crystal Palace as a “really big point” in the battle to avoid Premier League relegation.

A forgettable, if sometimes fiery, 90 minutes at Selhurst Park could yet have yielded a pivotal result for Leeds, who sit 16th in the table.

They are now five points clear of Everton, who currently occupy the final relegation berth, but have played a game more than the Toffees.

With their next three games coming against topfour sides in Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea, taking a share of the spoils in south London was key for Marsch.

“I think it’s a really big point,” he said.

“It gets us closer to our ultimate goal. If you’d said to me five games ago that in the next five games you’d pick up 11 points, I’d have signed on the dotted line. We still have a lot of things to work on.

“The result is big. Every point is important, performance not our best but defensively very stable. Second clean sheet in a row, five games unbeaten.

“We just have to take the positives away. It wasn’t so easy with 16 days to keep match sharpness and that showed a little bit but the mentality of the group and the ability of the team to fight for every inch on the pitch I think really helped us earn the point.”

The point for Palace ends a three-match losing streak for the Eagles, who still maintain hopes of a tophalf finish.

Patrick Vieira pinpointed a lack of cutting edge in attack as the reason the home side did not take all three points.

“Our decision making,” he replied when asked if it was a lack of quality that cost his side.

“I think we were unlucky at times as well but I think we created enough situational chances to score and we didn’t today.

“It’s just about taking our chances and we have the quality, we know that the front-three can score goals.

“But yes, I will want them to score more regarding the number of chances that we are creating and today I think we were unlucky.

“I think the only thing that was missing in our game was that goal.” – The Independent

– REUTERSPIX Leeds United’s Luke Ayling (centre) in action with Crystal Palace’s Christian Benteke (left) and James McArthur during the English Premier League match at Selhurst Park yesterday.