Crystal Palace 1 Wolves 1: Jota pinches point at death moments after Benteke fluffs sitter for Eagles
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ROY HODGSON is wary of making Christian Benteke’s career any more miserable.
So the 72-year-old refused to stick the boot in after the shot-shy Belgian fluffed yet a sitter to kill off this game - and then lived to regret it when Wolves levelled at the death.
To lay the blame solely on sub Benteke for Palace somehow throwing away two points to ten men would be harsh.
It was not his fault the team failed to prevent Diogo Jota from scoring in the fifth minute of injury time, chalking off Leander Dendoncker’s own goal after Romain Saiss had been dismissed.
But you can see why Selhurst Park regulars are so frustrated with the forward, who has hit just four goals in the last two-and-a-bit seasons.
Fans can be forgiven for scratching their heads as to why their club are in talks to offer the 28-year-old a new deal.
Clearly they still see an effective Premier League forward in there - or perhaps it is more of an indicator of the tight purse strings at Palace these days.
Hodgson was seething after seeing a win slip through his grasp.
The ex-England boss said: “It’s unbelievably disappointing. I thought we did more than enough in the second half to win it.
BLAME GAME
“Perhaps we should have taken one or two of those very good chances we created then maybe we wouldn’t have been concerned about the last minute of the game and a cross coming into our box. But we didn’t.
“We don’t feel positive at all. We feel very disappointed and very upset that we weren’t able to see this game through and get all three points to lift us the table.”
On luckless Benteke, he added: “We try hard not to lay blame on him to any greater extent more than the blame that unfortunately will come his way from people who watched the game who say ‘Why doesn’t he score those goals?’
“There’s not so much more we can do than keep working and make certain that we don’t join those band of people who are likely to bring his confidence down by talking negatively about him.”
Had Benteke netted when played through by Jeff Schlupp in the 80th minute, it would surely have sealed a fourth straight defeat for Nuno Espirito Santo for the first time in his tenure.
The noise surrounding the effect of the gruelling Europa League schedule would have cranked up, with fears his side were going the same way as Burnley last term and Everton the year before that.
Jota’s injury-time strike changed the narrative and earned the Portuguese striker a big kiss on the head at full-time from Nuno’s assistant Rui Pedro Silva.
Nuno reverted to a 3-4-3 for this trip to Selhurst - his side’s 13th of the campaign - benching Ruben Neves and dropping Ryan Bennett from the squad altogether.
It was in stark contrast to their 1-0 win here in October last year, where the ex-Porto boss made Prem history by naming the same starting XI for the first eight league games of the campaign.
Matt Doherty notched the winner that day and he almost scored again with a powerful header from Raul Jimenez’s cross - but was denied by Vicente Guaita’s wonderful reactions.
Wolves had the better of an underwhelming first period but found themselves one down within seconds of the interval.
Joel Ward received the ball from James McArthur on the edge of the box and drove a shot which was heading wide until it cannoned off Dendoncker and into the net.
'WE KEPT FIGHTING'
Minutes later Saiss picked up his first yellow for taking out Wilfried Zaha on the touchline and on 73 minutes he did it again, earning a second booking and his marching orders.
Benteke had his chance to finish it with ten minutes to play as he raced onto Schlupp’s through ball but failed to beat Rui Patricio.
It was a finish that smacked of a player who has netted just once in 17 months.
The miss should not have cost the hosts though who somehow allowed Adama Traore to cross to the far post where Joel Ward mistimed his header and Jota pounced for his first Prem goal of the campaign.
It sparked jubilant the scenes and Portugal flags in the away end - and boos from the home fans, with some arguing with each other at the final whistle.
Nuno said: “We had one man down and we kept fighting. It says a lot about the spirit that we have.
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“The second half began with the worst thing that can happen. You can say it’s a lack of concentration, a lack of focus, you could say bad luck, but it’s not about that.
“Our preparation started on June 27 and we knew we were going to be involved in this challenge and we have to embrace it.
“The players are working very hard and the proof is how they run to the very last second of the game.”