March 9 2014

Jason Puncheon (Photo: Andy Roberts)

Crystal Palace winger JASON PUNCHEON admits full responsibility for his error that led to Southampton's goal.

PUNCHEON, playing against his former club, made a weak header back to Dean Moxey which allowed Saints striker Jay Rodriguez to take advantage and end up scoring.

"I’m disappointed for myself for the mistake, but that’s football," he said. "Sometimes you have got to be honest with yourself, because if you can’t be honest with yourself then you are never going to get nowhere.

"The ball came and I didn’t actually see Jay to my right. I headed it and, when I saw him, I tried to recover. I nearly got there, but I didn’t."

Julian Speroni almost blocked Rodriguez as he bore down on goal but their 50-50 challenge saw the ball bounce up in the Saints player's favour and he netted.

Speroni said: "We got there together for the challenge, I was unlucky and he was very lucky. The ball rebounded his way and he found the goal with an empty net. Sometimes it goes for you, sometimes it goes against you.

"The game could have gone any way really. It was a very close match and an unlucky goal decided the game. We could have easily got a draw or a win."

And the goalkeeper says PUNCHEON should stop beating himself up about the defensive lapse after the Eagles lost 1-0.

He said: "We all make mistakes, this is a team sport so we are all right behind him [PUNCHEON]."