December 9 2004

Aki Riihilahti

Palace midfielder AKI RIIHILAHTI said Dennis Rommedahl's last-ditch strike felt like a "kick in the. somewhere" as Charlton somehow took all three points, by Stuart Pink.

The 28-year-old Finn nearly put Palace ahead in the first-half when his header re-bounded off the crossbar, but he could not hide his disbelief as another good Palace performance went without reward.

RIIHILAHTI said: "If we scored the first goal I think we would have won, because the whole game I thought we were very comfortable defensively.

"They couldn't hurt us and I don't know the stats but they probably had one shot on goal which was the goal they scored in the last minute, so that feels very harsh."

If RIIHILAHTI's header had gone in, it would have been the perfect time for Palace to go ahead, as it was just before half-time after a spell of good pressure.

RIIHILAHTI said: "When I saw the cross I thought I have to attack it and I headed it down first and the second I headed it I was sure it was going in.

"I caught it well and it took a very high bounce, but it didn't go in and that could have been the 5cm that cost us the game."

Attention now focuses on the clash with Blackburn this Saturday. RIIHILAHTI added: "It's a massive game, it's a huge, huge game for us."