CRYSTAL Palace manager Dougie Freedman had no complaints about Paddy McCarthy’s dismissal after his side’s 2-1 defeat at leaders QPR on Saturday.

With the scores level at 1-1, McCarthy was adjudged to have brought down Rangers Adel Taarabt in the area with the midfielder bearing down on the Eagles goal.

As a result, the defender was shown a straight red card.

However, Freedman refused to criticise Martin Atkinson’s decision to send off his captain but conceded it was the turning point of the match.

He said: “I have no complaints at all.

“Unfortunately Paddy gave the referee an opportunity to give a penalty and to send him off, so in that case I have no complaints.

“It was a big turning point.

“When you get a man sent off and penalty given it is going to turn a game, especially a very close game like that.

“I thought it was going to go down to the wire so when that happens, it changes both managers’ mentality towards the game.

“It was difficult because we had to defend for our lives in the first 40 minutes but then I felt once we got that opportunity, the goal gave us a boost and we could and push on in the second half.

“But we had to play for 40 minutes with 10 men against a team that are top of the league and who have players who can hold on to the ball extremely well, so it was difficult for us to come back from that.”

Unfortunately the game was marred by scenes of crowd trouble as the penalty incident sparked a furious reaction from a small minority of the away following, with cans and bottles being thrown on to the pitch in the direction of Hoops keeper Paddy Kenny.

Freedman blamed the emotion of the occasion and claimed if those fans had seen the incident again, they may not have reacted the way they did.

He added: “Emotions were lost at that stage.

“If most of those Palace fans had seen it again on the video maybe they would have kept their bottles of beer and drunk them instead of throwing them.

“I don’t condone it but fans get emotional and that is what happens.

“We play an emotional game of football that is good but we don’t want to see bottles get thrown on to the pitch.”

The result continues to the Eagles’ poor away form, with just one win and six points being recorded on their travels all season.

Despite the statistics, the boss defended his side’s efforts on the road and reaffirmed his stance that instead of the team dwelling on the results they will just concentrate on their next challenge.

He said: “Unfortunately not everyone has seen us play away every week.

“We don’t give in and that is the comforting thing for myself.

“In very close games, like against QPR, we have given teams a run for their money.

“My players don’t complain about it, they will dust themselves down and go on again.”