Palace ace makes Actim climb

Tom Soares registered his highest score of the season in The Actim Index, the official player ratings system of the Coca-Cola Championship, following his performance in Crystal Palace`s win at Stoke.

As a result, Soares climbed 29 places to 112th in the Index with 346 points having also notched the fifth highest overall score of the week.

The 21-year-old opened the scoring at the Britannia Stadium as Palace boosted their play-off hopes, posting 37 points having also contributed eight passes and a dribble.

Team-mate Jose Fonte also enjoyed a good week, his 31-point haul making him the highest-scoring defender of the week.

Palace have four players in the top 50 with Julian Speroni (483 points) and Clinton Morrison (481) in 25th and 26th place respectively while Mark Hudson (439) is 39th and James Scowcroft (437) in 42nd.

Analysis of all Championship games is taking place throughout the season and so far the top five Crystal Palace players are:

Player, Ranking, Position Ranking, Index Score

Julian Speroni, 25th, 6th Ranked Goalkeeper, 483

Clinton Morrison, 26th, 8th Ranked Striker, 481

Mark Hudson, 39th, 11th Ranked Defender, 439

James Scowcroft, 42nd, 11th Ranked Striker, 437

Ben Watson, 62nd, 15th Ranked Midfielder, 416

The Actim Index is calculated using a unique mathematical formula that rates each player`s contribution be it goals, shots, passes, dribbles, tackles, crosses, saves, clearances, blocks, interceptions, assists, clean sheets, time on the pitch or number of points gained by the team with marks deducted for red and yellow cards.