Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson defended Vicente Guaita, despite the bizarre goalkeeping moment which gifted Sheffield United the victory at Selhurst Park.

The game was settled by Guaita’s howler in the 58th minute, when he dropped the ball over the line from Oliver Norwood’s corner.

“It was a very difficult day for goalkeepers, it was a very windy day. The ball was swirling around”, he said.

“He had to make a very quick decision to catch the ball, rather than punch it. That was a good decision at that stage of the game as it would have put us on the attack again”.

“He (Guaita) was the first one to come in after the game and apologise for his mistake”.

Hodgson heaped praise on Guaita’s performances for the Eagles so far this season, explaining that he does not need to apologise to anybody at the football club for his goalkeeping error.  

“We’ve got 30 points from 25 games, and without him we’d have a lot less points.

"We owe him an enormous debt. Nobody at the football club will attach any blame to him.

"It’s part of football and these things happen.

"I’m sad its happened to him and I’m said its cost us points, but we are in his debt”.

When asked about the VAR decision which led to the rescinding of Joel Ward’s red card, Hodgson criticised VAR officials.

“VAR came to the referee’s rescue not ours”, he said.

“What bothers me is that the people in Stockley Park are sending the referee to look at the pitch side screen because they are not sure about the decision”.

“It is their job to look at the decision from all angles, and if they can’t see that it isn’t a red card for themselves then I worry about VAR”.