Joel Ward: A bitter one to swallow

Right back Joel Ward had an influence at both ends as his Palace side drew 1-1 against 10-man Wolverhampton Wanderers yesterday.

After his shot was deflected off of Leander Dendoncker’s hand into the visitors’ net a minute into the second half, the Eagles’ defender misjudged a hopeful cross with five seconds left of the match as Diogo Jota crashed home for an unlikely equaliser in the fifth minute of additional time.

“It’s a bitter one to swallow that, especially to concede so late on and the type of goal we conceded it was not ideal,” said Ward to Sky Sports after the match. “It was just one of those misjudgements, it skimmed off the top off of my head, it’s never nice to concede late on and we’ve got to learn from that.

“There’s a couple of scenarios where we should have probably done a little bit better, especially late on in the game and just put it to bed, with a ball down the line and just put it into the corner or whatever it may be,” he added. “But we dust ourselves down and go again next week.”

With the draw feeling like a loss for everyone connected with Palace, Roy Hodgson’s men do not have to wait long to try again as they face Norwich City on Saturday at home.

“We’ll digest the Wolves game, go again and get ourselves ready for Norwich,” said Ward. “We’ve got another home game to put it right and carry on the momentum, from what, at times today, was a strong performance, especially in the second half.”