10:56am Wednesday 17th March 2010
By Sam Murley
CRYSTAL Palace manager Paul Hart refused to defend Claude Davis’ dismissal after his side slumped to another defeat at Selhurst Park by losing 1-0 to Leicester City last night.
The no-nonsense defender had just returned to the starting line up having served a two match ban for receiving 10 yellow cards.
Davis is now set to miss a further three games after being dismissed for violent conduct at the end of the first half when he appeared to strike out at Leicester’s Michael Morrison in an off the ball clash..
The 10-men were finally undone shortly after the restart when Bruno Berner followed up a Julian Speroni save to give the Foxes all three points, leaving Hart disappointed with his centre half’s action.
He said: “I don’t think we can defend that challenge at all.
“I will study what the code of conduct is and see what that is, but my last words to a team are always to stay on the pitch and keep 11 men.
“It is not for to comment on what the players think but I would think that it was unnecessary and it made the game extremely difficult for us.
“It is hard enough with 11 players but with 10 it is a massive challenge and now I have got to worry about the recovery for these players because they had to put in a massive shift today.”
The result leaves the Eagles just outside the relegation zone and despite having a strong goal difference, they are struggling to convert chances now having not found the net in the last three matches.
However, the lack of firepower does not concern Hart, who believes it is down to bad luck.
He said: “We have created chances in most of the games and we have had about four shots saved off of the line in the last two games.
“All season we have not been prolific but the way we performed in the second half showed what these players are made of and we were very unlucky not to get at least one goal.”
Crystal Palace now face two tough away games at promotion chasers Blackpool and Nottingham Forest and despite the league position, Hart doesn’t believe the players should be down hearted and is still thankful for the squad he has at his disposal.
He said: “I said to them I don’t think they deserved to walk off that pitch with their shoulders hunched because whatever frailties we have got, you can’t call courage and desire one of them.
“They don’t realise what they have done for me.
“I have come here and I go home every day with a smile on my face working with these players and I will back them all the way and help them as much as I can.
“It is unusual to get a bunch of players this passionate.
“You can throw all the criticism at them about the little things but as a group of players, they know what we have to do and we know we need some results.
“But I’m pleased with the way they go about their job.”
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