Palace in more trouble after brawl

Crystal Palace were ordered back into training today after their ill-tempered 4-1 defeat at Gillingham.

Palace could face a heavy FA fine for their part in an ugly first-half brawl. Players from both sides traded punches after referee Alan Kaye gave Palace a penalty even though Andrejs Rubins appeared to dive.

Neil Ruddock missed the penalty and Palace, who were fined £20,000 for a similar free-for-all against Nottingham Forest earlier this season, fell apart.

Carl Asaba hit a hat-trick for the Gills before Dougie Freedman scored from the spot late on. Iffy Onuora completed a miserable day for Palace manager Alan Smith.

He admitted: "I haven't got any sympathy for anybody at the moment.

"I need to have a few words with my players about our performance and I don't think it warrants a day off. That was an horrific scoreline."