Roy Hodgson laid no blame on Martin Kelly for his part in Crystal Palace dropping two points at Southampton.

The centre back saw his poor pass set Danny Ings free to slot past Vicente Guaita to level the scores with 15 minutes to go.

Palace were in control of the tie at St Mary’s after James Tomkins’s header shortly after half time gave Hogdson’s men the lead.

“A technical mistake like that can happen,” Hodgson said of Kelly’s error.

“A point against a Southampton team in form and with a lot of confidence, I have to be satisfied with that.

“But all things being equal, with the situation we were in, and knowing what a difficult game it would be, then I have to be satisfied with a point.”

'Small Margins'

Palace thought they had taken the lead in the first half but Max Meyer’s strike was disallowed after Wilfried Zaha was adjudged off-side by VAR, while the men at Stockley Park also felt a challenge on Meyer wasn’t worthy of a penalty.

“The goal was a close one, and VAR decided it wasn’t a penalty,” Hodgson added.

“I didn’t realise at the beginning who it was being checked for.

“It is small margins, but there is no point lamenting decisions. We can definitely say we weren’t fortunate though, VAR wasn’t on our side today.”

The point takes Hodgson’s side up to ninth in the table with 27 points, a far cry away from the poor start to the season the Eagles endured in 2018.

Twelve months ago the Eagles were on 18 points at the half way stage, just six points above the relegation zone and in a genuine dogfight to avoid the drop.

“The players are a wonderful bunch and it has been a wondrous 2019.

“We were looking over our shoulders last Christmas but had a great Spring to lift us up the table, and now we have 27 points at the end of the year.

“It has been a good year for us, and we must keep working until we get these players back who we are sorely missing.”

READ:REPORT: Southampton 1 Crystal Palace 1 - Kelly error allows Ings grab point