Wharton reflects on point on the road at Forest
Adam Wharton says Palace's players are disappointed to only take a point away from Saturday’s trip to Nottingham Forest – but also saw the positives in their battling performance.
Despite creating a number of good openings at the City Ground, the Eagles were forced to settle for a draw after Jean-Philippe Mateta’s well-taken team goal was cancelled out by Chris Woods’ header.
“A point is better than none at the end of the day,” Wharton said. “Having taken the lead, we thought: ‘we've got to try and do everything to get three points’. Unfortunately, not today, but we'll take a point.
“JP [scored a] great finish. [We] worked it well, a couple of nice passes. It was a great start for us early in the game to get the lead. We didn't build on it when I thought we could have, but that's football.
“The gaffer [Oliver Glasner] said then: ‘a point away in the Premier League is better than nothing and they’re hard to come by’. We’ll take the point. Obviously, we would have wanted the three at the start of the game, but with the position we're in, a point is better than nothing.
“It's only going to help us – we just need to build on it. The games are coming thick and fast at the moment, so hopefully we can build on this performance and the point, and get a few more.”
In the same week that he made his England Under-21s debut, Wharton once again impressed with his industry, energy and eye-catching range of passing at the City Ground, twice creating chances for Ebere Eze – who was denied by goalkeeper Matz Sels on both occasions.
Wharton explained: “It’s really good at the moment. [I’m getting] lots of minutes, more than I thought I would coming in, but I'm really enjoying it. I just want to play football, and that's what I'm doing at the moment.
“I think every kid growing up wants to play in the Premier League, the best league in the world. I'm just really grateful to be able to be in this position, and hopefully I can keep playing and helping the team.
“[I’m trying to] just work on everything. I'm still young, I've got plenty of things to work on. I'm still learning the game, a new league and things like that, just working every day in training, on the ball, off the ball, positioning, when to press, when to maybe sit off – all the little details that make a big difference.”