Roy Hodgson has admitted that Crystal Palace 'have only got themselves to blame' after Christian Benteke stepped up against his manager's orders to miss an injury-time penalty in the 2-2 draw with Bournemouth.
All the goals were scored in the opening 45 minutes of an entertaining contest at Selhurst Park, as the Eagles recovered from a goal down only to then concede for a second time moments later.
There was to be some late drama in South London, though, with Benteke stepping up instead of Luka Milivojevic - who converted from the spot in the first half - and missing from 12 yards to remain goalless this campaign.
Hodgson was questioned by a supporter at full time over the decision to let the Belgian take the penalty, on an afternoon that the experienced boss admits was 'an opportunity missed'.
"It wasn't an altercation, the guy was only asking a question," he told BBC Sport. "He was asking why Benteke had been told to take the penalty. I was telling him he hadn't. Benteke got hold of the ball.
"It was a unilateral decision - no one on our team was able to wrest the ball from him. We the management don't expect players to change those decisions, we tried to shout out our instructions, they obviously didn't reach the penalty spot.
"We missed an opportunity today. I believe we did enough to get the three points, if you miss penalties at home you've only got yourself to blame."
Benteke has now missed three of his five penalties for Crystal Palace in the Premier League, including each of the last two.
Daniel Lewis
