Saturday 21 February 2015 20:06, UK
Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew described his side’s performance as the best of his reign so far despite a 2-1 defeat to Arsenal.
Palace gave the Gunners a torrid time at Selhurst Park but Glenn Murray’s last-gasp goal was only a consolation as Arsenal held on for all three points.
But Pardew was proud of his side’s efforts despite coming out on the wrong side of the result.
“It was probably the best performance under me and we’ve won three Premier League games,” Pardew told Sky Sports.
“It was a controlled performance littered with individual brilliance at times. And yet we could’t get our reward when it mattered in front of the goal..
“Two calls went against us a little bit. Their first goal - it (the foul) looks outside the box. The second looks offside but we wouldn’t let our resolve diminish.
“I’m so proud of the players that I actually feel so despondent for them that they haven’t got anything today.”
Goals from Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud gave Arsenal a 2-0 lead going into the break but Pardew insists his side did not deserve that scoreline after their performance.
“From the start to the finish we had a game plan to take the game to Arsenal and to threaten them and to give them no time,” Pardew added.
“They cut through us a couple of times. They had a couple of moments at 2-0 and if they’d have scored I might have retired from the game because we definitely didn’t deserve that.
“We were superb. Sometimes this game can be very cruel and it was a cruel game for us today.”
Crystal Palace were handed a lifeline when Murray scored in added time but it could have got even better for the hosts seconds later when the goalscorer’s header hit the post.
Pardew knew it wasn’t to be his day when the ball rebounded straight into the arms of David Ospina.
Pardew said: “I thought it was going to hit the post and go in because it looked like it had all the right spin on it to take the ball into the goal.
“It went straight back into the goalkeeper's hands and I actually looked to the skies and realised it wasn’t going to be my day.“
