The Palace manager saw his team twice squander the lead as goals from James McArthur and Wilfried Zaha were cancelled out by Leighton Baines and Oumar Niasse, which saw two potentially precious Premier League points slip out of the Eagles’ grasp.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Hodgson spoke about a number of issues, including:
Disappointment at seeing the lead slip twice: “It was two points lost, not thrown away. Obviously we were unhappy with the two goals we conceded but a game of football is 96 minutes and a lot more happens in that than the few seconds that it takes to score or concede a goal. If I look at total performance over the 96 minutes then I believe we played well enough to win the game.”
Good displays not yielding points: “I work to get performances and make sure that the team understands it job, and that we go out on the field and give good performances, and certainly on this occasion we were far better than our opponents. We created more chances and conceded less chances, had more of the ball and were fouled probably a record number of times.
“We have to keep doing more of the same. If good performances are the key to getting results, then we’ll get them. I would like to see our performances rewarded but that hasn’t happened over the last three or four games, and there’s no point sitting here saying we played well and deserved better – you get what you get. Deserving doesn’t come in it.”
The penalty: “I’m pretty certain you asked David Unsworth the same question and he said that it was a foul, and now you’ll ask me and you’ll expect me to say that I didn’t think it was. The only reason it was a penalty is because the referee gave it, so we could discuss it until the cows come home, but they scored it and that is the end of it.”