PALACE boss George Burley refused to be downcast despite his team's humbling at Scunthorpe last Saturday.

With a stomach bug ravaging the Eagles' already small squad, Burley was forced to replace his captain Paddy McCarthy during the first half after the Irishman felt unwell.

His departure saw midfielder Alex Marrow slot into the centre of defence and was followed by two goals from Jonathan Forte before the half-time interval, a double blow from which the visitors never recovered.

But Burley believed he could see cause for optimism and declared his faith that Palace would get back to winning ways soon.

"Paddy went off and we conceded a goal within two minutes," he said. "For the first 25 minutes we were the better team but when you go a goal down away from home and concede a second sloppy goal before half-time, it's always going to be hard.

"There is a lot of good football getting played and we have a lot of young players who have been doing superbly well.

"We need to keep playing the way we are and it will come right."

Centre back Claude Davis returned to the starting line-up but Darren Ambrose was still missing through injury.

Palace battled well in the early stages against a Scunthorpe side still looking for their first home points of the season.

Kieran Djilali should have given the Eagles a flying start after only three minutes when he nipped past full-back Cliff Byrne into the box, only to lash his left foot shot high and wide with only keeper Joe Murphy to beat.

Palace had to re-shuffle after 32 minutes when skipper McCarthy went off to be replaced by new loan signing Jonathan Obika from Tottenham.

Obika went up front alongside Pablo Counago, with Marrow dropping into the back four.

A minute later it was Scunthorpe who took the lead when a quickly-taken throw on the right found striker Forte on the right edge of the box and he turned well to fire a left foot shot into the far corner past Julian Speroni.

Scunthorpe struck again on the stroke of half-time when Forte snatched his second of the game, crashing a shot on the turn past Speroni, this time at his near post, after doing well to control a ball into the box from Michael O'Connor.

The home side continued to dominate the second half, with only a last ditch challenge from Edgar Davids (pictured) denying striker Chris Dagnall.

Speroni denied Forte the chance of a hat-trick, advancing quickly off his line to narrow down the angle.

Scunthorpe missed a great chance to make it 3-0 when midfield man Sam Togwell blazed wide with the goal at his mercy. But Scunthorpe did strike again in the 71st minute when Michael O'Connor crashed a penalty past Speroni after a foul by Nathaniel Clyne on Forte.

Scunthorpe: Murphy, Byrne, Mirfin, Jones, Nolan, O'Connor (Woolford 83), J Wright, Togwell, Collins, Dagnall (Grant 84), Forte. Unused subs: Slocombe, A Wright, Raynes, Boyes, Canavan.

Palace: Speroni, Clyne, Davis, McCarthy (Obika 32), Davids, Danns, Garvan, Marrow, Djilali, Counago (Andrew 90), Cadogan (Dorman 71). Unused subs: Price, Barrett, Parsons, O'Keefe.