March 13 2011

Dougie Freedman

Crystal Palace manager Dougie Freedman felt referee Martin Atkinson was right to send off Paddy McCarthy at QPR.

McCarthy saw red after fouling Adel Taarabt to give QPR a penalty and that proved to be the winning goal as Heidar Helguson tucked it away for 2-1. James Vaughan had earlier cancelled out Helguson's opener for the Hoops.

Freedman said: "We've no complaints at all. Unfortunately, Paddy gave the referee an opportunity to give a penalty and to send him off.

"Of course that was a turning point, especially in what was a close game that I thought was going to the wire.

"We had to defend for our lives in the first 40 minutes, but I felt once we got the goal it gave us a boost and we could have gone on from there.

"QPR are top of the league and are a very good side with Premier League players, but we gave them a run for their money.

"My players didn't complain. They never do. We dust ourselves down and go again, and we showed that again.

"We've been playing like that for four or five weeks. We never give in, and that's the encouraging thing for me."

QPR boss Neil Warnock added: "It's difficult for me against Palace. I really don't enjoy games against them, but I wanted my players to enjoy it.

"You've got to give Palace credit. They fought for their lives, scored a goal - sloppy from our point of view - but we started again and in the end could have scored more goals.

"We've won five out of six matches and that takes some doing given the teams we've played against, so I'm really happy.

"It's hard to believe it's just over a year since we took over here. It's not a straightforward job - it never is at QPR and hasn't been this season - but when you get a game and an atmosphere like that, it's all worth it.

"When you've been in the game as long as I have, you don't get carried away when you win games or when you lose them. I said the same after we lost to Millwall in midweek."