Tuesday's 1-0 defeat at promotion chasers Ipswich Town - which followed a 2-0 home defeat by Birmingham City on Saturday, has prolonged the agony for supporters.

Manager Steve Coppell said: "We probably need one more point bearing in mind our goal difference but it's been a long time coming."

Getting that point may not be an easy task with moneybags Blackburn Rovers visiting Selhurst Park on Saturday and the Eagles travelling to Worthington Cup finalists Tranmere on Sunday week.

But Walsall must win their remaining two matches to overtake Palace, while West Brom would also need four points if the Eagles were to lose both of their last two games.

Palace's youngsters showed Sky TV viewers their ability despite ending up beaten by Ipswich in Tuesday's match at Portman Road.

They were more than a match for their highly-rated rivals for much of a highly-committed encounter and were unlucky not to come away with a share of the spoils.

On-loan Ashley Cole was particularly lively and he had Palace's best chances to secure a point after David Johnson had given the home side a 26th minute lead. First he fired into the side netting after being played in by Leon McKenzie.

Then, Ipswich keeper Richard Wright nicked the ball of Cole's toes after Clinton Morrison had given him a sight of goal

And Wright also had to make an excellent one-handed save to keep out Cole after the youngster had broken into the box.

"We had opportunities as they did and we had a couple of one-on-ones which on another day might have brought us a goal," said Coppell. "It would have been interesting to see if they had another gear."

The performance at Ipswich was an improvement on the tired showing against Birmingham on Saturday.

The Midlanders' opening goal came on the stroke of half time, courtesy of Dean Austin's very passable imitation of Roy Keane's Champions League howler against Real Madrid.

And in the 62nd minute, Dele Adebola crossed for striker Paul Furlong to make it 2-0.