I tried to stop Benteke, says Hodgson
LONDON: Roy Hodgson unsuccessfully tried to stop Christian Benteke taking the stoppage time penalty which was saved by Bournemouth goalkeeper Asmir Begovic in the 2-2 draw at Selhurst Park, said the Crystal Palace manager.
There was confusion on and off the pitch when Benteke stepped up to take the kick instead of Luka Milivojevic, Palace’s allocated penalty taker who had emphatically buried an earlier spot-kick, also awarded for a foul on Wilfried Zaha.
Apparently ignoring the instructions of captain Scott Dann and the entreaties of other players, Benteke insisted on taking the kick but only succeeded in shooting straight at Begovic.
The Belgian striker has now missed three of his five penalties for Palace while the Serb has converted each of his spot-kicks since joining the club in January.
Benteke, who has not scored since May, departed to boos at the final whistle when Hodgson was involved in a heated exchange with a spectator.
“The guy was asking why Benteke had been told to take the penalty,” said Hodgson. “I was telling him he hadn’t. Benteke got hold of the ball. It was a unilateral decision, no one on our team was able to wrest the ball from him.
“We the management don’t expect players to change those decisions, we tried to shout out our instructions, they obviously didn’t reach the penalty spot.”
Benteke’s miss cost Palace two points and dropped them back to the bottom of the table.
“The fact is even if we had come out of the bottom three we’re still very much anchored near the foot of the table,” said Hodgson.
“We missed an opportunity today. I believe we did enough to get the three points, if you miss penalties at home you’ve only got yourself to blame.”
The match was also memorable for a superb Jermain Defoe goal, his second of the match, which took his tally to six in three games against Palace.
Defoe volleyed the ball at an angle past the keeper after taking a through ball on the bounce.
“It was instinctive,” said the 35-year-old. “I caught a glimpse and thought I could direct it at goal.”