Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has admitted that his side "paid the price" for their first-half performance during their 2-1 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this evening.
Willian opened the scoring in the London derby before an own goal from Martin Kelly put the hosts in complete control, but Palace almost fought back late on after Patrick van Aanholt had halved the deficit.
The Eagles saw an Alexander Sorloth strike controversially ruled out in the second half too, and Hodgson believes that his side could have come away with something had they played at that level for the whole match.
"I sum it up probably by saying it's a shame we didn't play the whole game we played the second half. There was a big difference defensively and offensively and we paid the price for it," he told reporters at his post-match press conference.
"Second half we were more aggressive, we played as we were hoping to play from the first whistle. The introduction of Wilf Zaha was a bonus and we started to ask questions of Chelsea and we could have ended the game as a draw.
"The level of commitment wasn't good enough in the first half in my opinion. We didn't have all XI doing that in the first half, but we did have all XI doing it in the second half."
When asked whether the second-half display provided him with cause for optimism in their battle against relegation, Hodgson added: "Optimism I don't know, I think it's very clear to me what we've got to do in these last eight games - to make certain we leave no stone unturned in our fight to stay in the league."
The defeat leaves Palace still in the relegation zone and one point from safety.
Barney Corkhill
