SIMON Grayson is full of praise for counterpart Neil Warnock ahead of the game with Crystal Palace tomorrow.

Since taking over the Selhurst Park club Warnock has steadily improved the side taking them from 19^th in the division to 8^th and just one point outside of the play-offs.

Having taken over a side that had only won two of 10 games, the unenviable task fell to the former Sheffield United manager to galvanise their season and get them back in contention for a Premiership push.

Warnock wasted no time in making changes to the squad and his decision to give youth a chance has already paid dividends. Sean Scannell has been one of a number of youngsters to catch the eye already, while John Bostock also proved his value over the Christmas period. Ashley-Paul Robinson is another who has been given a chance with the team in recent weeks.

Ahead of the clash, Grayson had nothing but kind words for the job Warnock has done: "Palace are on the outskirts of the play-offs and Neil's done a fantastic job because it was his first game in charge when he came up to Bloomfield Road with them and they were in the bottom at that stage.

"He's turned it around amazingly and that's full credit to him but I'm sure Palace will be aware of our strengths, as we are with them.

"When you've got the likes of Jamie Scowcroft, Watson and Soares in midfield and experienced defenders then they've got some good mixture," he added.

Selhurst Park is just another venue the team can mark off their played at list this season and Pool go there buoyed by the performance at Stoke last Saturday.

"I think when you look at all the fixtures that we've got, and probably had previous, there's a lot of difficult places to go to but I think the Stoke result gave everyone a big lift again," Grayson said. "Not that we've been lacking any confidence but when you go to a team that are top of the table and give the performance that we did, and give them a good game, well it gives everyone that bit of a boost.

"That can only be good for us that we're going into the last six games with a lot of confidence, fearing nobody," he added.

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