PALACE boss Ian Holloway says he was happy with the players' attitude in their 2-0 friendly win over the Oman national team on Tuesday, despite a number of them failing to make his 25-man squad last week.
Owen Garvan, Florian Marange, Aaron Wilbraham and Stephen Dobbie, who were omitted by the boss last Tuesday, all started the game at Selhurst Park, with Dobbie opening the scoring in the second half.
And Holloway would have fielded more of his new signings if they had not been away on international duty.
"It was something we felt was right to do a couple of months ago when we were offered it and I think it worked out well," he said.
"Oman were neat and tidy and it shows that everybody in the world can keep the ball now. I think that's the future of football now, to retain possession and get an end product out of it.
"It was better than training so it was good, that's all you can ask. The attitude was good, despite the disappointment some of them must be feeling.
"Life is about your attitude. If you don't get what you want, it's what you do about it, and these are a great group of lads.
"Obviously, with the rules we're under in this division, I would have been allowed 30 players last year but I'm only allowed 25 now.
"It was good to see the fans there. I think they'd hoped one or two more of the new signings were playing, but obviously with the international break, we had six away."
Left-back Jonathan Parr completed 60 minutes on his comeback from injury, while Darcy Blake also managed to get game time under his belt.
But Holloway says it looks like Blake will make a loan move after he failed to make the final squad too.
"What he's had to go through, it's not easy so we're all wishing him the best and helping him through," he said.