EAGLES stopper Julian Speroni was left frustrated his heroics in goal weren’t enough to help Tony Pulis’ men salvage something from Saturday’s trip to Chelsea.

Palace went down 2-1 but can count themselves unlucky not to have come away with a point after first half goals from Fernando Torres and Ramires either side of a Maroune Chamakh equaliser saw Jose Mourinho’s side home.

Speroni could only touch Willian’s drive onto the post before Torres gobbled up the rebound for the opener at Stamford Bridge but the visitors had the better of a goalless second half.

The Argentine saved brilliantly from Oscar one-on-one and then denied both Andre Schurrle and Demba Ba before Ramires shot wide.

Of that impressive double stop, the Eagles keeper said: “I tried to stay big for the first one and then I just went to cover the second one.

“I think it’s frustrating sometimes when you make saves and it’s not enough for the team to win or get something out of the game, but I think we all played our part today.

“We could have scored one or two more and it could have been at least a draw, so we are disappointed with that and we have to take the positives.

“Probably most people were expecting Chelsea to beat us comfortably and that wasn’t the case.

“I think we stood up to the challenge today.”

Speroni has been pleased with his team’s defensive solidity since Pulis took over from Ian Holloway, with the Eagles registering three clean sheets in the Welshman’s five matches in charge.

The Argentine said: “It hasn’t been long and we’ve had only three weeks to understand the new manager’s ideas, but so far it’s been great.

“He has his own way of playing and we try to follow his tactics as well as we can, but it’s going to take time of course for us to adjust to the new system.

“We look a lot more solid defensively, we are not conceding goals and we are a lot more solid and good on the break.

“It probably suits us the system we are playing at the moment.

“The whole team is doing their part.

“You can’t just defend with the goalkeeper and two centre backs, you have to defend as a team, otherwise you are going to concede goals.

“That’s what we are doing at the moment.”

Stuart O’Keefe, introduced as a first half substitute for Kagisho Dikgacoi, nearly levelled for the Eagles after the break but his shot was saved by Petr Cech before the rebound was scrambled away.

O’Keefe said: “It’s broken to me and I’ve just tried to get something on it and it’s just one of those things – it has hit John Terry’s heal or something.

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“It’s what you want to be a footballer for to play against the best players in the world and see where you are, so to come to a place like this and play against people like that and put in a performance is very pleasing.

“The manager just said he feels for us.

“We put in a great performance and we’re just unlucky not to come away with something, but if we were to do that week in, week out then I think we’ll be alright.”

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