Assistant boss Neil MacDonald insists he is confident Crystal Palace can see
out the January transfer window without losing striker Andrew Johnson .
The England man, who scored his 10th goal of an injury-hit season as Palace
saw off FA Cup third-round opponents Northampton 4-1, has already been the
subject of bids from Birmingham and West Ham and other Premiership sides are
expected to follow suit.
But MacDonald remains hopeful Johnson will stay at Selhurst Park and fire the
goals that will lead Palace towards promotion from the Coca-Cola Championship.
"Obviously the window's open and there's always going to be speculation about
Andrew Johnson," admitted MacDonald.
"He's a fantastic player and other clubs
want him.
"But the chairman and the manager say he's not going anywhere. He's back
scoring goals again, and hopefully that will put him in the frame for
England."
MacDonald insists Palace can still grab a top-two spot despite sitting 18
points adrift of second-placed Sheffield United, and insisted their cup win was
an important confidence booster as they stretched their winning run to five
games.
"We have to believe we can catch them," added Iain Dowie's right-hand man.
"We want them looking over their shoulders and seeing Crystal Palace coming.
"We want to keep winning to keep the pressure on.
"We're scoring goals and we're trying to work on keeping clean sheets,
because we always know we're capable of getting goals.
"We knew it would be tough today, we've watched Northampton a couple of
times, they're doing well in their league.
"But I felt we were in control. We were disappointed to concede and they came
back into it, but we rode it out, came back strongly and scored some good
goals."
Palace were made to work harder than the scoreline suggests, with Josh Low
grabbing a shock equaliser to cancel out Michael Hughes' early opener.
Jon Macken fired the hosts back in front, but not until Johnson tumbled over
Northampton keeper Lee Harper in the 52nd minute did they look totally
comfortable.
Johnson tucked away the resulting penalty, and Dougie Freedman hit a fourth
from the spot late on after Jason Crowe was harshly adjudged to have handled.
"I'm glad that last decision didn't cost us any league points," said
Cobblers manager Colin Calderwood, whose side are handily placed for a promotion
bid from League Two.
"Harper felt he didn't make contact (with Johnson) and the boys felt the ball
was running out anyway.
"But we've come off second best in a two-horse race. It's the results that
matter, although we've come away with our pride intact.
"I couldn't ask for more from the players. There are many plus points to take
from the game, we passed it well and were brave in possession.
"We wanted to get through, you always want to be in the hat as it's always
exciting to watch the draw and see who you get.
"But we probably won't bother watching it now."
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