Derby boss Paul Warne was left counting his lucky stars after his side’s 0-0 draw at Lincoln.
The promotion-chasing Rams dropped points for only the third time since the end of October at Sincil Bank.
But it could have been worse if it was not for inspired goalkeeper Josh Vickers, who produced a string of fine saves to frustrate the win-shy hosts, whose winless league run stretched to eight games.
Warne said: “It could have been a lot worse, it could have been a bit better. That’s my view of it. We just didn’t do enough to take a chance.
“We have an attitude to take a risk. We want to win every game, we feel we have a responsibility to get promoted to try and win as many games as we can; away from home or at home, that’s the way we play.
“Luckily, our goalie got us out of trouble. Sometimes you need that.
“I still thought we would have scored, a guilt-edge chance. But we didn’t. We huffed and puffed. We just didn’t have enough to win a game.
“It’s always the way if, for whatever reason, your two, three or four forwards, whatever you play with, can’t create a chance then you want more and more options.
“If I was really greedy I’d have 10 centre forwards with six on the bench and I’d keep flipping them.
“We can’t always rely on Tom [Barkhuizen], Collo [James Collins] and Nat [Mendez-Laing] to create something all the time, it’s impossible.
“You can’t go through the whole season being the best player. Although in fairness most of the time they are.”
Despite an elusive win going begging, Lincoln boss Michael Skubala was pleased with his side’s performance.
He was particularly impressed by young strikers Freddie Draper (19) and Luton loanee Joe Taylor (21), the latter being denied a goal in the second half by a clearance off the line.
Skubala said: “I’m really pleased. I thought they worked really hard.
“We created some big chances. I thought the game had everything from the lads and we were brilliant, without getting the win.
“I thought we looked a real threat. We had a 19 and 20-year-old up front and we saw how exciting their partnership can be.
“Freddie and Joe have a lot to learn but the signs were good.
“I was impressed with everybody. I thought they were all really good.
“I was disappointed for them because they deserved to win with the chances they created.
“Joe will be fine, he’ll be fine. He’ll score goals for us. If he starts scoring goals for us then he’s got a bright future.
“He’s got to score. They’re still young, still new to League One and that can’t be underestimated.
“Derby are a big team on a great run so I’m really pleased.”
'I will keep fighting' - Ten Hag adamant he is the right manager for Man Utd
Erik ten Hag insists that he is the right man for the job at Manchester United despite their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Crystal Palace on Monday.
Michael Olise netted twice against a sorry United team at Selhurst Park, with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also getting on the scoresheet.
It is the first time that Palace have done the double over the Red Devils in the Premier League, as United extended their winless run on the road to five games.
There has been a lot of speculation over Ten Hag’s future following a disappointing second campaign in charge, with just one year left on his contract.
Asked if he was the right manager for United, he told Sky Sports: "Absolutely. If the right players are there and available, we have a good squad, but are missing the whole backline – we had problems.
"I will keep fighting. I prepared the team in the best way I could do. It was not good enough, by far – I have to take responsibility for that. But I will find energy and prepare them for Sunday’s game.
"At the end of the day, I have to do it with the players who are available. All season, we have huge [injury] problems. Many times we have sorted it out. Today we didn’t."
United have struggled with injury problems all season, with Harry Maguire and club captain Bruno Fernandes joining the lengthy list of players missing against Palace.
Ten Hag highlighted the lack of defensive options at his disposal but did not make excuses for the poor performance, adding: "It’s clear and obvious – this is underperforming. It’s not good enough. We are very disappointed in this. Our fans were behind us all the way – we should have kept fighting like the fans did.
"There are always reasons. Everyone sees our backline, we have huge problems, but at the end of the day we have to deal with it – we should have done better than we did.
"We know [how damaging it could be], but we have nine points to play, so we have to fight for the nine points."
Man Utd thrashing a 'big statement' but Palace are not surprised, says Eze
Eberechi Eze says Crystal Palace's 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United is a "big statement" but insists there should be little surprise that it happened.
Micheal Olise scored twice as Palace ran riot against the sorry Red Devils at Selhurst Park on Monday.
Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also got in on the act as Palace sealed their first league double over United.
Palace have now won four of their last five Premier League games, with Oliver Glasner having turned the tide in the past few weeks.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Eze said: "It says a lot, it's a big statement, but we're not surprised.
"We know what we're capable of, we know what we can do. The quality we've got in the dressing room is high – we don't see it as a surprise. We know what we came here to do today, it worked.
"You can see we’re creating chances, we're not worried about what's going on behind us. We're attacking, pressing, we're aggressive – we're going to continue to create chances for sure."
Also speaking to Sky Sports, Glasner said: "Congratulations to the team. I think in the first half, we didn't play as well as we could, but we were very efficient and scored very nice goals.
"At half-time, we made some adaptations, and the second half was much better. We created a lot of chances, scored some nice goals, and it's a great win.
"We know we have quality when we get our players in situations to score a goal.
"Good players, a good team spirit, but we must always stay humble. It's not so long ago we were struggling [in a relegation battle]. We are doing well, but we have a lot to improve."
This was Palace's biggest Premier League win since beating Leeds United 5-1 in April 2023, while it also marked their biggest on home soil in the competition since a 5-0 victory over Leicester City in April 2018.
Udinese 1-1 Napoli: Struggling Bianconeri grab last-gasp home draw
Napoli were held to a 1-1 draw at relegation-battling Udinese in Serie A on Monday after a stoppage-time goal by forward Isaac Success cancelled out a Victor Osimhen header.
Osimhen nodded home to give Napoli the lead in the 51st minute after Matteo Politano sent a lofted cross from the right into the middle of the box, and the Nigerian striker headed the ball in off the left post.
The Nigerian thought he doubled their advantage in the 80th minute, but his effort was ruled out for offside, before Success bundled in the leveller in stoppage time, netting from a Thomas Kristensen header.
Napoli moved up to eighth on 51 points from 35 games and are nine points behind both fifth-placed Atalanta and Roma, in sixth.
Data Debrief:
Osimhen is the third Napoli player to score in six matches in a row against a single team in Serie A in the three-points-for-a-win era, after Gonzalo Higuain against Lazio between 2013 and 2016 and Dries Mertens against Bologna between 2016 and 2019.
Despite fighting back to earn a point, Udinese have now failed to win three games under a new manager for the first time since August-September 2010 under Francesco Guidolin.
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