Yohan Cabaye stepping up to take a penalty against his former club Newcastle was not a concern, insists assistant boss Keith Millen.

The French midfielder had the chance to bring Palace level at St James’ Park after Andros Townsend’s superb free-kick gave Newcastle the lead.

But Cabaye’s strike was saved by Karl Darlow and the Eagles were unable to find a goal as Newcastle made a huge step in their relegation battle.

Millen said: “Yo’s one of our penalty takers and he’s very good at it.

“It wasn't a concern Yo taking it, definitely not. He was up to take it and that's all you can ask of the player.

“It was a good save, but I don't think the game swung necessarily on that.”

Millen felt the visitors started the game on the front foot and ought to have went in at half time with a lead.

He added: “The second half - they started better than us in. In the first half we had a game plan and I thought we executed it really well.

“We should have really come in 1-0 up at half time, I think that would have been a fair result.

“In the second half, we'll give them credit, they stepped up, they upped the tempo and the crowd got behind them.

“We kept the crowd quite quiet in the first half, but then we came away from our game plan.”

Follow us on Twitter @NewsShopperSprt