‘Dissipated’ – Roy Hodgson delivers verdict as Crystal Palace suffer a 2-1 defeat at home to Spurs

Roy Hodgson says he lost faith that Crystal Palace were going to be able to get a result from their Premier League clash against Tottenham Hotspur on Friday evening after the visitors went ahead.

Spurs went 1-0 up early on in the second half when James Maddison hit a first-time cross along the face of goal that Joel Ward turned beyond Sam Johnstone and into his own net.

They doubled their lead through captain Son Heung-min in the 66th minute, who received a ball from substitute Brennan Johnson inside the area and hit a first-time effort to score his seventh of the season.

Jordon Ayew pulled one back for the Eagles in added time but they were unable to salvage a point.

The South Londoners have now only won one of their last seven games in all competitions.

Spurs moved five points clear at the top of the Premier League

“It gave them a chance to relax a little bit more and to deal a bit better with the pressure we were able to exert on them in the first half,” said Hodgson about his side’s performance before conceding the opener.

“I thought it was an aggressive and quite controlled first half from our side, but the first goal then produces a second.

“It was very difficult and that’s when we started putting players on the field who haven’t really played in the first team – Jes, Ahamada and Franca.

“We lost that sort of intensity that we were able to produce in the first half. In the end, it became easy for them to see the game through.

“We mounted a little flurry at the end and showed that we hadn’t given up and we still wanted it, but unfortunately even the first goal meant that what had given me so much encouragement that we were going to get a result from this game, dissipated after that goal.”

PICTURE: ROB AVIS