Heartache after a Hart-felt reception

Paul Hart was touched by an amazing reception from the Nottingham Forest crowd, remembering how close he had come to taking the club back into the Premier League seven years ago.

But it was scant consolation for Crystal Palace, whose 2-0 defeat leaves them in the bottom three after fellow strugglers Plymouth and Scunthorpe both won.

Nothing much more could have gone wrong, as defender Matt Lawrence was sent off for handling to deny Rob Earnshaw a run on goal and Wes Morgan put Palace behind in first-half injury time before Nathan Tyson completed the scoring with eight minutes left.

Hart said: "We can get out of the situation we're in. We should have had a free-kick in the incident before Matt was sent off so it was a bit hard to swallow. We will give everything we can to see us to safety."

Crunch game could be their next trip to lowly Watford, who have doubts about captain Jay DeMerit, Henri Lansbury and Ross Jenkins for tonight's clash at struggling Sheffield Wednesday.