Eagles centre-back Scott Dann reflected on the clash post-match, offering his assessment of where Palace fell behind and how they looked to establish a foothold in the battle.
He said: “It was really frustrating; always frustrating to lose. In the first half they were obviously the better side but didn’t create too many clear-cut chances, just kept the ball better than us at times.
“That second half, I thought we were much better. To create so many chances in the second half and not put them away is probably the most disappointing thing.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game and they kind of settled into it quicker than us, into their stride. We didn’t quite get to grips with it, we were giving the ball away a lot in areas. Obviously they started the game a lot better, especially the first 30 minutes.
“I thought we were just getting to grips with them and getting our patterns of play coming into half time and I thought we were a lot better second half, created a lot of chances and like I say, disappointing not to put any of them clear-cut ones away.”
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Asked how Palace sought to fight their way back, Dann said: “We have to try and get our patterns of play the way we wanted from the start, obviously we didn’t get that going right from the first whistle - disappointing.
“Then as the game went on, we started to get the game down and get the ball into dangerous areas. In the second half, we did that a lot more and took the game a lot more to them and had a number of clear-cut chances to get back into the game.”
The 32-year-old defender was almost the man of the hour, however, as he latched onto a loose ball in the box to strike at goal. Denied by a defensive flurry, Dann was unfortunate not to bring Palace level and looked back on his attempt by saying: “It just spun up a bit in the air. I just tried to swivel on it, I didn’t get a great connection which was unfortunate. Someone was actually behind me but, yeah, tried my best.”
You can hear more from Dann and watch further post-match reaction alongside free highlights by heading to Palace TV either by clicking here or ‘Palace TV’ in the app.