PALACE players got their own back on manager Alan Smith as they headed South after snatching a point at the Reebok.

Earlier in the week he had questioned his side after suffering six successive defeats.

That had left his position somewhat vulnerable despite listing three players Hayden Mullins, Clinton Morrison and Jamie Smith for a lack of commitment after the 1-0 midweek home defeat by Grimsby.

He went on to describe himself as Michael Caine in the film Zulu - "I'm standing alone with a only a gun and there's 16,000 Palace fans coming at me. I can't shoot 16,000 of them so I get the three nearest to me and that's Mullins, Morrison and Smith."

In response the team chipped in and bought the video of the film and put it on the TV on the team bus on the way back to Selhurst Park.

"The players then put on their earphones to their Walkmans to drown out the sound and left me to watch it on my own," said Smith. "Trouble was, the film wasn't as good as I'd described it."