PALACE BOSS: HE’S SAVED US PLENTY OF TIMES BEFORE

ROY HODGSON was in no mood to blame Vicente Guaita – even if the keeper’s blunder capped a frustrating 24 hours for the Crystal Palace boss.

Guaita produced a moment he will want to forget when he failed to hold on to Ollie Norwood’s inswinging corner and allowed the ball to drop behind the line.

That was enough to condemn the Eagles to a second successive home defeat while Sheffield United continue to rub shoulders with the Premier League’s highflyers.

And it came a day after Hodgson had failed to add more new faces to his squad during the final hours of the transfer window.

The Eagles boss, though, insisted Guaita did not deserve to be cast in the role of fall guy.

Hodgson said: “You don’t have to have studied football coaching to know it’s a goalkeeping error.

“He was the first one to apologise. But you don’t apologise for anything: thanks to you, we are where we are. With 30 points from 25 games. He owes us nothing.

“We owe him an enormous debt. We’re saddened people will blame him, but no one at the football club will. These things do happen, and I’m sad it’s happened to him and cost us a point in the game. But we’re in Guaita’s debt.”

It could have been an even more miserable afternoon for Hodgson had referee Andy Madley not downgraded the 72nd-minute red card he showed to Joel Ward for a foul on Enda Stevens.

The referee was advised to check the pitchside monitor by VAR – and he showed Ward a yellow card after watching the replay.

“It came to the referee’s rescue, didn’t it,” said Hodgson.

Hodgson’s main concern was his side’s lack of firepower, particularly during a first half when they created a succession of chances.

With on-loan Everton striker Cenk Tosun out injured, Christian Benteke led the line – and failed to end his season-long goal drought.

After standing firm, the Blades grew into the game and became increasingly dominant.

Hodgson added: “It was a very good first half. It’s a long while since I’ve seen us play as well as that. We have to translate the quality of the football, the dominance to some extent, into goals and into leads.”

Blades boss Chris Wilder, who handed a debut to record signing Sander Berge, acknowledged his side got a lucky break with the goal while George Baldock might have picked up a second yellow card for a first-half foul on Palace’s Wilf Zaha.

But the Sheffield United manager insisted his team deserved the win.

He said: “It’s a huge result today. We were up against some really good players but the team kept their discipline and shape.

“We were lucky with the goal, but I thought we were good value for the win.”