October 22 2018

Connor Wickham

Crystal Palace striker Connor Wickham hailed his cameo against Everton as a significant moment in his career.

Wickham only played the final two minutes of Palace's 2-0 defeat as a late substitute against the Toffees but it marked his first senior appearance in almost two years.

The 25-year-old suffered knee ligament damage in Palace's game at Swansea City in November 2016 and hasn't played since with a series of niggling injuries hampering his recovery.

"It was nice to get the match-day feeling back, it's a difficult game to come back in to," he told Palace TV. "The boys have been playing quite well but it's quite a significant day personally for me – that's what I've worked so hard for over the past two years for moments like this. Hopefully it's onwards and upwards."

Palace were left to rue dropped points at Goodison Park after Luka Milivojevic had a penalty saved by Jordan Pickford and conceded two slack goals in the final three minutes.

Wickham added: "There are positives we can take for 85 minutes. We came here and got put under a bit of pressure, but we rode our luck and sometimes that's what you have to do when you come to places like this. And then they got the breakthrough first and they controlled it from there.

"As a striker you always want to score goals but at the minute I don't really mind where they come from as long as we are getting three points. Most important is taking points for the team."