Hodgson: Palace deserved to beat Newcastle

Cape Town - Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson believes his team's second-half performance in the 1-1 draw with Newcastle United on Sunday deserved three points.

The Eagles put in an underwhelming performance in the first 45 minutes at Selhurst Park and went a goal down in the 22nd minute when Mohamed Diame scored the opener. 

However, they were a different team after the break and dominated phases of the game. Ten minutes into the second half they were awarded a penalty when Ciaran Clark fouled Christian Benteke in the box, and Luka Milivojevic slotted the spot-kick to equalise.

"The way we were playing in the first half I would certainly have taken (a point)," Hodgson told reporters, via the Evening Standard.

"After watching the second half and watching us dominate the game as we did, I feel we were unlucky not to have got all three points in the end because our second half performance merited that.

"It's a point that doesn't help either of us enormously but we've just got to make sure that when we can't win, we draw."