May 16 2008

Ben Watson

CLINT HILL has refused to blame Ben Watson for Crystal Palace's play-off heartache.

Palace saw their promotion dreams shattered after they were dumped out of the play-off semi-finals by Bristol City on Tuesday night.

Eages midfielder Watson headed his side into a 1-0 lead early on to level the tie 2-2 on aggregate and wasted the chance to put the game beyond City's reach by missing a 72nd minute penalty.

Bristol claimed two goals in extra-time to clinch a place in the Wembley final but experienced defender HILL insists Watson, who finished with 10 assists from the campaign, should not be made a scapegoat.

"We gave it a good go and if we had tucked that penalty away then that would have been massive," HILL told the Croydon Advertiser.

"Obviously, Ben (Watson) was unlucky with the spot kick but you can't blame him because he has proved week in week out that he is a fantastic player with all the set pieces and assists he has provided this season.

"It was a hard blow for him to take but we appreciate everything he has done for the team this season."

HILL played 36 times for the Eagles last season after joining from Stoke City and is looking forward to putting his feet up over the summer before having another crack at promotion.

He added: "It will take us a few days to get over this, but then we need to rest our bodies and make sure we hit the ground running in pre-season because it will be a difficult league again."