Crystal Palace defender Martin Kelly: You’ve always got to be ready to step in to the side
BY MATT WOOSNAM
Crystal Palace defender Martin Kelly hailed the “bonus” of a clean sheet as his side held on to a crucial victory over Leicester.
The centre-back came in for the suspended James Tomkins and excelled once again when deputising.
Always the bridesmaid and never the bride, Kelly has found himself on the fringes of the Eagles side throughout his spell in South London, but rarely is he shown up when presented with an opportunity.
He played a vital role in maintaining Palace’s lead against the Foxes following Luka Milivojevic’s first-half opener, and the Liverpudlian was delighted with the team’s performance.
“It’s always a bonus getting a clean sheet and doing your job. You’ve got to be ready, you never know when your chance is going to come but in the Premier League, if you’ve been around as long as I have, you’ve got to keep yourself in tip-top condition and when you get your chance you’ve got to not look out of place.
“I felt we did really well as a team. We showed again how dangerous we are at home, especially with how loud the fans are. We had a really strong performance and every one of us fought for those three points.
“Every game now feels massive, it always does in the Premier League. There are no games that you take for granted but we know going into home games we’ve got a real chance of getting a result because of how good our fans are. They put us on the front foot.
“Looking back at the first half, we could have got the ball out of our feet more so for him [Milivojevic] to not hesitate and have an attack paid off.”
Kelly also heaped praise on Spanish goalkeeper Vicente Guaita, who made an excellent save to deny Jamie Vardy in the second half on his Premier League debut performed.
”Vicente has been working his socks off in training, waiting for his chance, and he saved us with that stop. He was brilliant.
“He’s quite a character if you get to know him. He doesn’t know much English but he knows the basics, he knows enough to communicate with you on the pitch and that’s what you want when the big man’s behind you.
“You need him to be talking, he can see the whole pitch. He’s settled in and I’m sure he’ll be made up that he’s had his chance and he’s done well.”