Sam Allardyce takes positives from Bolton Wanderers draw

Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce has admitted to being frustrated by his side's inability to put the ball in the net, but was keen to focus on the positives following the goalless draw with Bolton Wanderers.

The 62-year-old was held on his return to the Macron Stadium, where he spent eight years before departing a decade ago, to set up a replay later this month for a place in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Despite being made to wait for his first win since taking over the Eagles last month, Allardyce was happy to see his players keep their first clean sheet under his guidance, while also being relieved that Loic Remy come through 45 minutes unscathed on his debut.

"Being clinical enough in front of goal deserted us today but we haven't had a clean sheet [since I took over] so at least we've got that," he told reporters. "Bolton got better and better in the second half and we had to battle it out and we did.

"[Remy] hasn't played a single competitive game since he joined the club because of injury so 45 minutes is enough. He wants to play more but we can't afford him to get injured again because we want to see his pace and goalscoring ability. We saw a couple of flashes today which excited us all and hopefully he gets better and better the more match fitness he gets."

Palace have scored just two goals in four matches since Allardyce replaced Alan Pardew at Selhurst Park.