Crystal Palace boss Trevor Francis was disappointed with his two strikers as they failed to convert numerous chances and ended up losing 2-0 at home to Watford.

The Eagles have failed to score in last four at home and are now six points away from the play-offs.

Francis said: "I'm bewildered by our inability to put the ball in the back of the net.

"We played some very good football in a swirling wind, but failed to score and when you have players of the calibre of Clinton Morrison and Dougie Freedman you expect one or two goals from so many chances.

"But I don't think it's a question of confidence their goalkeeper was the best player on the park and the pitch didn't help."

Palace dominated from the start and Watford would have counted themselves lucky for it to be 0-0 going into the break.

But with a rare attack, they scored in first-half stoppage time through Allan Nielsen.

Then the game was effectively over two minutes after half-time, when Marcus Gayle made it 2-0.

Palace's heads dropped and not even the introduction of Ade Akinbiyi could inspire a score.

Francis added: "We could have done with Curtis Fleming, Tony Popovic and Kit Symons in the team.

"Not only because of their experience but because of the influence they have on our younger players.

"In fact, you can see that Dean Austin, our most experienced player, was our most impressive player in defence.

"Obviously, this result is very disappointing and we now have a mountain to climb to reach the play-offs.

"But we can still do it. We have just got to be strong in adversity."

On Saturday, Palace have a daunting trip to Maine Road against high-flying Manchester City.

March 12, 2002 16:00