Alan Pardew has ruled out signing a defender or midfielder to strengthen Crystal Palace's chances of succeeding in the FA Cup, reiterating his only transfer target is a striker.
The manager watched his team progress to the competition's fourth round with a 2-1 victory at Southampton, owing to close-range finishes from Joel Ward and Wilfried Zaha either side of Oriol Romeu's equalising goal, but aware that had they been stronger in the final third they would have won more convincingly.
Ward's 29th-minute goal ended Palace's run of three games without scoring in which their need for a new striker has been highlighted, but despite reports of interest in Swansea midfielder Jonjo Shelvey and others, Pardew was insistent that only a goalscorer is likely to arrive.
"We've been linked with a couple of defenders: there will be no defenders coming to this football club," said the manager, who has made no secret of his intention to prioritise the FA Cup this season.
"We've been linked with a couple of midfield players: there will be no midfield players coming to this club.
"But we are looking for an offensive player, a striker-type player, someone who's going to contribute to a goal tally, which is an area we'd like to improve a little bit. We're chasing one or two, and hopefully before the end of January we'll secure someone."
Asked if his team deserved to win after Southampton twice struck the woodwork in the final minutes and improved during the second half, he responded: "Yes. We're looking for a home draw [in the next round].
"We don't really care who we get at home, with the fans that we've got and the atmosphere we're going to have in the next round, it's going to be tough for anybody.
"This was a really, really tough draw for us. Looking at results, we've had the best result of the FA Cup, really, to come here and win, so I'm really pleased for the fans who travelled down."
Palace's opening goal came when Southampton's Steven Davis conceded possession in midfield, but despite his frustration at the costly error manager Ronald Koeman, who recalled Sadio Mane to his starting XI, insisted his team's efforts deserved at least a replay.
"We had the better chances," he said. "In the last 20 minutes we had some good shots on target, good goalkeeping, and we had a header on the post.
"We did everything, but in football sometimes you are not so lucky. We know in the last period we are not as clinical as other teams, but the mistake we did for the first goal makes it difficult to win a game.
"You think you're back in the game at 1-1, but Crystal Palace is a strong team.
"[Mane] was active, was dangerous. He's a good player.
"We are trying to turn around several things in the club, but we have a good squad. It's also about belief in the players.
"It's difficult at this stage of the season to bring in one player who will change everything. Maybe if we sign [Lionel] Messi..."