Palace suffered a last-gasp 2-1 defeat in the home leg on Saturday but Warnock, who has never finished on the losing side in a play-off semi-final, insists the tie is far from over.

Warnock is guaranteed to have his players fired up after branding City "arrogant" following their celebrations at the final whistle at Selhurst Park.

And the Yorkshireman is relishing the opportunity of leading his young side into battle at what will be a packed Ashton Gate for the return leg on Tuesday night.

"When everyone thinks you are out it's a great challenge to go and pit your wits against 20,000 fans and an opposing team who already think they are there. It's not beyond us," said the Eagles boss.

"I don't think we need any more motivation - apart from getting a deckchair out they couldn't have done much more. I thought they were arrogant and I don't think you expect that in professional football."

Warnock can draw on plenty of experience in the end-of-season lottery as he continues his bid to add a seventh promotion to his impressive managerial CV.

The 59-year-old led Notts County to promotion through the play-offs twice and repeated the trick with Huddersfield and Plymouth.

The only stain on his record was a defeat in the 2003 final, when Sheffield United lost to Wolves at the Millennium Stadium.

On Saturday Ben Watson's penalty cancelled out Louis Carey's opener and looked to have ensured Palace would head to Bristol honours even, but David Noble's stoppage-time 30-yarder means City are favourites to reach Wembley.

Warnock was unhappy with some of the treatment dished out to rookie winger Victor Moses and has called on Tuesday's referee Howard Webb to clamp down on City's strong-arm tactics.

Warnock spared Moses further punishment by substituting him early in the second half, but that will not stop him unleashing the powerful 17-year-old at Ashton Gate.

"Our young lad needed some protection and he didn't get any," he added.

"They did whatever they could get away with within the parameters of the officials. Howard Webb is in charge on Tuesday, so I don't think there will be tackles like that."