Palace must raise offer to keep Cup hero Gray

Crystal Palace's FA Cup hero, Julian Gray, is ready to leave the First Division club at the end of the season after turning down an offer of £4,000 per week.

The winger's fierce volley silenced The Kop in Palace's 2-0 win in Wednesday's FA Cup fourth-round replay victory at Liverpool, but it also put him in the shop window for a possible summer move away from Selhurst Park.

Gray, a home-grown talent, is determined to gain what he thinks he is worth in his talks with the Eagles chairman, Simon Jordan, and the pair are still a long distance apart. Palace will be entitled to a fee if Gray leaves as he is under the age of 24.

Yesterday, Gray, who left Arsenal for £500,000 three years ago, revealed his principal source of inspiration for Wednesday's victory – a phone call from Thierry Henry.

"Thierry's a good friend and he rang on Tuesday to give me some advice. He told me to be positive and to get at [Jamie] Carragher as much as possible. That's what I did and it seemed to work. I speak to Thierry a lot, and hopefully we'll meet in the FA Cup this season. We've been talking about playing each other, which would be really nice."

First there is the fifth-round obstacle of Leeds United at Selhurst Park to overcome, but Gray said: "We will take confidence from beating Liverpool and will face Leeds with nothing to fear. We will be the underdogs again, but we have a big advantage being at home."

Gérard Houllier put the blame for his side's defeat on misses by the England strikers Michael Owen and Emile Heskey. "Our finishing was not in relation to the rest of our game," the Liverpool manager said, "but we have young strikers and you have to be indulgent."

Kevin Kilbane was on the spot to help put Sunderland into the last 16 of the Cup. Kilbane was one of three Republic of Ireland players who missed against Spain in a World Cup penalty shoot-out last summer, but on Wednesday he put his side's second spot-kick past the Blackburn goalkeeper Brad Friedel. Then, as all Rovers' penalty takers drew a blank, Gavin McCann saw his kick squirm past the American custodian to give Sunderland a 3-0 shoot-out win and set up a home tie with Watford.

Kilbane's international colleague, Jason McAteer of Blackburn, was waiting for him. "Jason slaughtered me when I got back into the dressing-room," Kilbane said. "He said: 'Why couldn't I do it then'?"

The Millwall goalkeeper Tony Warner believes that the Southampton striker James Beattie should be called up by England despite two below-par performances in the Cup.

The Saints' striker was off form on Wednesday when his side won 2-1 after extra time in a fourth-round replay at The New Den, but Warner said: "Beattie wouldn't be where he is without being a good player. He has a lot of competition but I still think England have to look at him." Southampton are now at home to Norwich City.