Defender outlines what Roy Hodgson has brought to Crystal Palace since taking over from Patrick Vieira

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

Joel Ward says returning boss Roy Hodgson has the Crystal Palace squad all “singing off the same hymn sheet” after their 2-1 win against Leicester City on Saturday.

Palace went behind early into the second half after Riccardo Pereira cracked a shot from the edge of the box beyond Vicente Guiata.

Hodgson’s side equalised three minutes later, and they secured their first three points of 2023 thanks to Jean-Philippe Mateta’s 94th-minute winner.

The 75-year-old was taking charge of his first game since replacing Patrick Vieira, who was sacked after the 1-0 defeat at Brighton.

“He’s straight back in, and we’ve hit the ground running,” said the former Portsmouth player about Hodgson’s influence since his return 12 days ago.

“He settled in very quickly. We all know what to expect [from him] and what he expects from us – we’re all singing off the same hymn sheet.

“We focused this (past) week on simplifying the message, working on the basics and making sure that we give ourselves a good platform.

“We know that we’ve got the talent. We know that we’ve got an abundance of ability within the squad, and we can hurt teams. We’ve proved that today – from a solid foundation we went on and showed the quality that we possess.”

The first half at Selhurst Park on Saturday saw a revitalised Palace side attempt 20 shots – their highest-ever total in a first-half Premier League game since the official statistics company Opta Sports began recording the data in the 2003-04 season.

Over the 90 minutes, the Eagles recorded 31 shots in total, compared to just three from their opponents.

“We can take a lot of positives from the game,” explained Ward, who is the longest-serving player in SE25, after signing for the club in May 2012.

“It’s massive and puts us in a great position.

“It’s been a tough run what we’ve been on, and today was a real statement of intent – we want to continue that. We can’t get ahead of ourselves. We’ve got to make sure that we put ourselves in the best position possible. We’ve got to continue to build on today and continue to move forward.

“We’ve got to make sure that we do the business and take care of the next fixtures that we’ve got coming up. It’s a big month for us, but we can put ourselves in a great position and be looking up the table.

“The first half was one of the best performances we’ve had for a long time. The chances, the shots – we were probably unfortunate not to be a few up in the first half. But we stayed strong, even when we had a setback, and it showed a lot of character for the boys to come back and win again.”

Palace suffered a setback when captain Wilfried Zaha left the field in pain, holding his groin, just before half-time. He was replaced by Jordan Ayew, who set up Mateta for the winner.

“Wilf is vital for us. He’s been in the club all those years, so we know how much of a big player he is for us,” said Ward.

“But we’ve got players who can equally go and cause damage. Jordan came on, and it was a like-for-like replacement. With Ebs (Eze), Michael (Olise), Jeff (Schlupp) and then JP coming on, everyone played their part and the whole squad were fantastic.

“[For JP] to do it on this stage, at home in front of the fans, was special,” said Ward about Mateta’s winning strike, scored in the fourth minute of stoppage time with almost the last kick of the game. “We gave the fans something to cheer. We were disappointed to go one down, but they stuck with us like they always do and they gave us that lift and we rewarded them with the three points at the end.”

PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD