Scott Dann: Late Crystal Palace disappointment hard to put into words, but Christian Benteke showed courage

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Jack Rosser @JackRosser_9 December 2017

Scott Dann says Crystal Palace’s draw with Bournemouth is ‘hard to put into words’ after Christian Benteke missed a late penalty to take all three points.

Roy Hodgson’s side, who have looked much improved under the former England manager, came back from 1-0 down against the Cherries to lead 2-1 - before Jermain Defoe bagged an equaliser on the stroke of half-time.

Luka Milivojevic scored from the spot to bag Palace’s first goal on Saturday, but when they were awarded an injury time penalty, Benteke stepped up - going against his managers orders - and saw his effort saved.

Wins for Swansea and West Ham mean that the Eagles drop back to the foot off the Premier League, and Dann said it’s a difficult one to take.

“It’s hard to put into words, obviously the way we played and the amount of chances we created and the penalty at the end makes the result a difficult one to take," Dann told the club's website.

“We had so many chances to put the game out of sight and kill it off but we couldn’t do it so we are disappointed and it feels like two points lost.”

Dann also admitted that he didn’t see the discussion going on before the late spot-kick, but defended Benteke’s courage in stepping up.

“I didn’t see anything going on at the time and just saw Christian going up to take it and it must be remembered that it takes a lot of courage to go up for a penalty but unfortunately for us he has gone on and missed it for us.

“We did though have so many other chances in this game but we have to take it as a team and move on, forgetting about what’s happened and be ready for Tuesday.”