It wasn’t a lucky win: Hodgson

10-man Palace move up to fifth after 1-0 win against Bournemouth

CRYSTAL PALACE manager Roy Hodgson is convinced that yesterday’s 1-0 win over Bournemouth had nothing to do with luck. Jeffrey Schlupp struck in the second half as 10-man Palace beat The Cherries to move up to fifth in the Premier League.

The hosts lost Mamadou Sakho early in the first half when he was sent off for a high challenge on Adam Smith.

Bournemouth dominated possession from that point but failed to make the most of their man advantage as they rarely tested Vicente Guaita in the Palace goal.

Philip Billing hit a shot straight at Guaita at the end of the first half, while Dominic Solanke just failed to connect with a dangerous low ball shortly after the restart.

It appeared as though the first Premier League match to be broadcast on Amazon Prime would end goalless, but instead the hosts snatched victory when Schlupp, on as a first-half substitute for the injured Patrick van Aanholt, weaved his way through the Bournemouth defence before tucking home a low shot.

After a run of five games without victory, Palace have now won their last two having also beaten Burnley 2-0 at the weekend.

“It was a great victory,” Hodgson told BBC’s Match of the Day. “I’m full of praise for what the players did today.

“To firstly lose your centreback to a challenge which the referee deems to be a red card, and then to lose a left-back in an area where we have no cover...

“The last place we could really cover injuries was at the back, but we did and I thought the players showed an outstanding attitude at the back.

“Normally when you win 1-0 with 10 men you think you were lucky, but that wasn’t really the case and we had a few chances of our own so I’m delighted for the players.”

Three wins in their first six Premier League games gave Bournemouth fans hope of challenging for a top-six finish, but they have lost their way since then with just one win since the end of September.

Yesterday’s defeat was their fourth in a row and leaves them in 12th.

Boss Eddie Howe felt his side had done enough to win any one of their previous three games, but the same could not be said about this one as they failed to make the most of the extra man.

“It is a tough one for us to take. We needed to get something from tonight’s game and we are hugely disappointed we haven’t.

“We didn’t do enough with the ball and we didn’t hurt them enough. Credit to them for how they defended in their shape. We should be able to do better and I have to take responsibility for that.

“When you’re in this form, it is a tough one to work out, we could have won all of these games but we have lost them narrowly.” – Agencies