Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson admitted he was not pleased with his side’s first-half performance in their 3-2 win over Wolves on Sunday afternoon.
The Eagles opened the scoring in the 56th minute when Tyrick Mitchell crossed from the left-hand side for Odsonne Edouard to steer his second of the season beyond Jose Sa.
Wolves equalised when substitute Hwang Hee-Chan was left unmarked from a Pedro Neto free-kick and planted a header over Sam Johnstone.
Palace restored their lead when Joel Ward’s searching pass when knocked on by Jean-Philippe Mateta for Eberechi Eze to collect inside the area. The Greenwich-born playmaker took one touch before poking an effort past the Wolves keeper.
Picture : Keith Gillard
Hodgson’s side added a third when Mateta and Edouard linked up well on the edge of the box, with the former Celtic forward placing his shot into the bottom left-hand corner.
Wolves grabbed a late goal when Matheus Cunha was left unmarked and headed home Neto’s cross.
The Eagles now have seven points after their first four Premier League outings.
“It certainly was an excellent result,” said the 76-year-old.
“We’re becoming a bit more critical of ourselves.
“The first half was nowhere near in my opinion of what we’re capable of doing. To come in at that stage at 0-0, if anything, we could consider ourselves fairly lucky.
“I wasn’t pleased with the performance and neither were the players.
“We did do better in the second half – we scored three very good goals.
“In football, you don’t always get your results from playing exactly the type of football and doing exactly what you want to do.
“Sometimes things transpire to help you get the three points. Sometimes you can play well and come away with no points.
“It was only soured anyway by that last-minute goal – we shouldn’t be conceding goals like that in the 96th minute.
“It didn’t cost us points, but it cost me a little bit of faith.”
PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD
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