Hyldgaard was a £200,000 buy from the Danish club Ikast in December 1998 in a deal which stipulated £100,000 would be due when he made his 35th first-team appearance. With four games to go until that landmark is reached, the Sky Blues decided they could not afford to pay.. Even with a side that bore little resemblance to that which will take the field at Villa Park on Sunday, Watford proved much too resilient for Crystal Palace last night. If it was a gentle warm-up they required for their FA Cup semi-final against Southampton, Watford found Palace obliging hosts at Selhurst Park.

Somewhat fortuitously, they benefited from the second own goal to hit Palace in successive games but the hosts hardly helped themselves or, for that matter, their manager Trevor Francis, who suffered the crowd’s wrath as he walked off at the end.”We have fallen short of what I expected,” Francis admitted. “I would have expected one or two of our senior players to have assisted the youngsters more than they did.”One of the youngsters, Ben Watson, made a promising debut that included an astute through pass to Dougie Freedman, which was whipped off the Scot’s toes by Richard Lee, Watford’s deputy goalkeeper, midway through the first half.David Hunt, another product of the Palace academy, had the misfortune in only his second game of misheading Lee Cook’s corner past his own goalkeeper Alex Kolinko, who had seen Tony Popovic do much the same on Saturday.Watford’s goal on the stroke of half-time followed a chance squandered by Michael Chopra. Lacking the confidence expected of a striker who had contributed four goals to Saturday’s attacking fiesta, Chopra shot straight at Kolinko after racing on to a ball presented to him by Kit Symons’ embarrassing lack of control.The goalkeeper, spared another save by a wayward blast from Gifton Noel-Williams, had little else to do. But neither was Lee tested unduly at the other end by a Palace side who appeared to feel that luck had deserted them from the first minute, when Danny Butterfield’s dipping volley from 25 yards bounced clear off an upright. Totally lacking in conviction, Palace possessed little of their mid-season sparkle.With his dashes down the left the lively Cook was, in extreme contrast, just one Watford player giving his manager a selection dilemma for Sunday.”I’ve got a very nice problem,” said Lewington. “This was an ideal way to prepare, getting the points from my old club.” Etiquette prevented him from saying how easy it was.Crystal Palace (3-5-2): Kolinko; Mullins, Symons, Popovic; Watson (Thomson, 86), Butterfield, Hunt (Whelan, 60), Derry (Routledge, 46), Gray; Freedman, Adebola. Substitutes not used: Black, Berthelin (gk).Watford (4-4-2): Lee; Mahon, Dyche, Brown, Robinson; Doyley, Hand, Johnson, Cook; Noel-Williams (Helguson, 72), Chopra (Norville, h-t).

Substitutes not used: Chamberlain (gk), McNamee, Ifil.Referee: A Hall (Birmingham).. There will doubtless be nervous days ahead for the team that famously threw away an 11-point lead in the First Division last season, but for the moment Wolves can breathe a little more easily in their quest to cling on to a play-off place. Nathan Blake’s first-half goal proved just enough to subdue their relegation–threatened hosts in a game they had particular reason to be concerned about. But Wolves were primed to hit hard on the break and when Kenny Miller released Blake with the home defence caught square, the striker had too much pace for full-back Tony Gallimore and beat Danny Coyne with a low diagonal drive from the edge of the penalty area.It was a lead that might have been increased before half time. Miller, fed by Blake, side-footed wide at the near post, Paul Ince thumped a header the wrong side of the same upright and George Ndah saw a header smothered by the busy Coyne, who kept Grimsby in the contest with three minutes into the second half with a superb save when Blake was clean through.”We should have killed them off with the chances we had,” Jones said, acknowledging that Grimsby might have taken a point had Darren Mansaram’s finishing been more accurate in the second half.

But Nathan has repaid us for what happened on Saturday and it is a great three points for us.”Grimsby Town (4-4-2): Coyne; McDermott, Ford, Santos, Gallimore; Bolder (Boulding, 62), Groves, Hughes, Keane (Livingstone, 83); Campbell, Mansaram. Substitutes not used: Cooke, Chettle, Allaway (gk).Wolverhampton Wanderers (4-4-2): Murray; Irwin, Butler, Lescott, Naylor; Ndah (Cooper, 64), Cameron, Ince, Kennedy; Blake, Miller (Sturridge, 82). Substitutes not used: Oakes (gk), Rae, Edworthy.Referee: E Wolstenholme (Blackburn).. Filbert Street may be coming down, but Leicester are on their way back up. A gathering only 17 short of the record for their new Walkers Stadium watched them overcome their East Midlands rivals, Nottingham Forest, with a goal on his first starting appearance by Tommy Wright, an 18-year-old local boy who used to be a mascot for the club. In last night’s mood, which saw them dent Forest’s play-off aspirations after the visitors initially looked superior, it may well come at Rotherham on Saturday.All in all, it was an ideal way to mark the first anniversary of Micky Adams’ appointment as manager.