Blues boss Roy Keane was delighted with new loan signing Darren O’Dea’s debut in Saturday’s 2-1 win at Crystal Palace. However, the Town manager revealed that the Celtic man might not be available for Tuesday’s Carling Cup tie at Crewe having suffered a concussion at Selhurst Park.

Keane said: “Darren did very well, he was touch and go to come on for the second half because he’s got concussion. He’ll have to see the doctor to see whether he’ll be available for Tuesday.

“There was no way he wanted to come off, he’s a good character and I thought he made some good tackles right in front of our supporters. They’ll appreciate that.”

O’Dea and his defensive colleagues needed to be on top of their game against the Eagles, says Keane: “We knew our back four would be under pressure today, but we just hoped that if we got the opportunities we’d punish Palace, which we managed to do. But we don’t do that anywhere near enough.

“Darren should be pleased. He’s had a good week at the club and I’m very pleased with him. He’s a good kid.”

The Town boss was similarly happy with his two central defenders, but says Tommy Smith needs a rest: “Tommy’s due a break. He’s going to have a week or two off after the Bristol game. He needs a week’s holiday because he’s not had a good break since the World Cup, but with the injury to Damien we’ve had to play him, and so far it’s worked out well for him.

“He’s very unassuming, he gets on with the job and he did well against Palace. I knew our two centre-halves would have to play well for us to have any chance of winning the game.”

Keane is pleased with the morale of his squad and hopes the early season form will prove to be something on which he can build: “Spirit doesn’t necessarily get you promoted but it gives you a chance. We had no platform last year, we were playing catch-up all season.”

The Blues manager admitted that Claude Davis’s red card had some bearing on the game at Selhurst Park: “The sending off affected it, no doubt.

“Palace have some good young players, strong, athletic, they put us under pressure. We needed that second goal because we felt we were probably going to concede because of the number of balls coming into our box, but that was to be expected.

“They’ve good players like Garvs and they caused us problems. We had one or two scary moments, as you’d expect in any game, particularly away from home.

“Having said that,” Keane continued, “I’m not sure Márton had too many saves to make. We’re disappointed with the goal we conceded, but that’s football, you’re going to have disappointments in the game.”

The Irishman felt Palace keeper Julian Speroni and his team-mates made the most of Andros Townsend’s high challenge, which led to his sending off: “Their keeper’s recovery rate was quite good and a lot of their players were around the referee. We had the same last year [with Jon Stead’s red card].

“He was going for the ball,” added Keane, “You know your players, he’s a left-sided midfielder, who plays for Tottenham. He’s not a nasty boy, I just spoke to him in the dressing room and he’s upset. It's his first sending off.

“I think he was naïve more than anything else and I think the referee should have sussed that out, even though I thought the referee generally had a good game.

“He’s got the red card and we get on with it. But there were a few arguments and if I was a betting man, which I’m not, I would have been pretty sure another red was going to come somewhere. We’ll miss Andros because he gives us something different to what we’ve got.”

The Town manager says he missed the plastic bottle being thrown from the crowd after Grant Leadbitter netted the Blues’ penalty: “I didn’t see it, but if it’s happened it’s out of order. It’s up to the FA and the officials to deal with it.”

Asked about Leadbitter’s celebration in front of the Palace fans, Keane joked: “We’ve told the players never, ever celebrate scoring a goal. They’ll be fined for that!

“Did you want him to run 60 yards to [the Town fans at the other end to] celebrate? That would be seen to incite some sort of trouble. It’s only natural that when you score, you celebrate.”

Keane suggested that the Palace players made little secret of their victory after last season’s corresponding fixture: “Remember here last year? Do you want to know what players were doing in the tunnel after they beat us?”

Townsend will miss three games for his red card, starting on Tuesday at Crewe, with the Keane unlikely to launch an appeal, while Grant Leadbitter, like O’Dea, will be assessed today after returning from the ankle injury he sustained against Burnley sooner than expected.

Photo: Action Images

suffolksam added 07:19 - Aug 23 so keane reckons garvs is a good player now he's not with town !
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bluesnightorg added 07:57 - Aug 23 Keane's dead right here. O'Dea's tackles were bang on, almost every time, and we were looking straight down them in the second half. You've got to enjoy watching that.
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StavangerBlue added 08:15 - Aug 23 So what were the Palace players doing last year in the tunnel? I have the memory of a fish.
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blueandred added 08:22 - Aug 23 RK has always said that Owen Garvan is a good player. Why would he change his mind just because OG has left the club? Good players leave clubs all the time for lots of reasons. The manager may not feel they have the necessary commitment to the club, or they may not fit in with the system or the style of football the manager wants to play. Or it may be for financial reasons. Or to clear the decks for someone else the manager has in mind (Not in Town's case though it would seem :))

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Doctor_Albran added 08:31 - Aug 23 Sam every question you frame on this site is framed from a negative aspect. You sound just like my missus! I expect any questioning of your comments to be met with a dismissive "I'm just saying" and a shrug (and no dinner either!). I don't believe Keane has ever said Garvan was a poor player (the fact that he fought back into his side suggests he did rate his ability, just possibly not his application - which most of us agree was/is lacking) and the situation we find ourselves with Stead - last year of a contract, fee accepted, so even if Keane wants to keep him the board would rather ship him out - from a business perspective Stead is an asset and has a value for this year only. Looking at Keanes comments in relation to Stead, I don't think he'd be unhappy if Stead turned the offers down and stayed. P.S. Great results so far, but still loads of work to do this season - still a much better place than we were a year ago though!

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bedsitfc added 08:42 - Aug 23 suffolksam - keane has never said garvs was not a good good player
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lawshallgirls added 09:29 - Aug 23 weldone odea great perfomance!
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dude added 10:32 - Aug 23 "If I was a betting man, which I'm not..." classic stuff.
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_Mhs_ added 10:34 - Aug 23 to any one who was at the game... was their goal fulops mistake? and how did townsend play before his sending off? I only saw the town goals
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Karlosfandangal added 10:34 - Aug 23 Garvan was given many a chance at Ipswich even in Jim's time, when he went AWOL the other season the club put their arm around him. He never really did it for town, he had the odd good game here and there but you need a player to do it week in and week out. He needed a new challange. Same with Counago and all this talk about Keane did not like him, if I remember rightly Joe Royal and Counago had a bust up, mmmmmm maybe just maybe it has been Counago's attitude all along, I can remember many a game where Counago has just bitched at the ref instead of getting on with the game. Its about time the club had a manager who believe's that the club is bigger than the players, maybe Jon Walters may agree. Have nothing against the players and Walters second season for us was brillient and the season Counago scored 21 he was so good. However lets not forget that Counago was on 25k a week when we were in the prem and Walters was reported to be on 15k a week so they should give their all every week. The club have made them very wealthy over the years and some of that money comes from you and me going through the turnstills

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Back_The_Boss added 10:48 - Aug 23 Decent signing and an impressive 3 points. COYB!
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magic_magilton added 11:29 - Aug 23 MHS, i would say the goal was probably Fulops fault, we had a great angle in the away stand and he was never going to get there. With the amount of balls coming in it was going to happen sooner or later though. First time ive seen Townsend and i thought he was really good. A number of times he had the acceleration to just suddenly get past a few players and get some space. He does seem a bit naive, but he is young and will learn, sometimes his final ball wasn't great. As for the sending off at the time and having seen the replay i thought it was a definite sending off. Also what did happen in the tunnel last year? What was happening when we scored our goal, i just remember seeing O'dea i think it was, being held back having a go at a Palace player? Also a great debut, good solid tackles!

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arc added 12:36 - Aug 23 Surely O'Dea did not really have a concussion at HT. A player should not be playing with a concussion.
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WadzillaBhoy added 13:20 - Aug 23 Just watched the highlights and saw the bottle thrower in action.
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WadzillaBhoy added 13:29 - Aug 23
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corshamblue added 09:38 - Aug 24 Steward 5yrds away not even watching the crowd, whatever next! Still, 1-2 and 3 points. Happy Days. You could say O'dear, but I'd rather say well done O'Dea !!
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