JOACHIM Andersen admits Brighton’s equaliser from Danny Welbeck in last night’s 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park was a superb header.
The Eagles took the lead in first-half stoppage time against their bitter rivals through Jordan Ayew.
But the Seagulls made a double change at the break and it was one of those substitutes Welbeck who equalised eight minutes from time with an excellent headed goal to seal yet another 1-1 draw between these two.
Andersen told Palace TV: “It is frustration. It was a really good first-half and I don’t remember them having clearcut chances to be honest.
“It is normal that they will have the ball more, they play well.
“But for them to score a fantastic goal, I don’t know how he could head that ball in from there!
“It was a fantastic goal. That’s just quality from them to be honest.
“I think we played a decent match. Of course we got tired in the second-half, but like I said I don’t think they had many clearcut chances.
“Everyone fought well and we did what we spoke about before the game.”
Palace’s opener from Ayew was a decent team effort in its own right, as Andersen was keen to point out afterwards.
But the Dane also accepted the Eagles need to be a bit more ruthless in front of goal when opportunities fall their way.
The defender said: “It was something we worked on. It turned out good so we were happy with our goal.
“When it is 1-0 anything can happen and we maybe should have scored a second goal.
“We had a good chance for that so we need to be a little bit more clinical with that.
“It is of course frustrating, but I think it was a step in the right direction.”
Brighton’s half-time switches ensured they dominated possession in the second period, something which ultimately led to their leveller and ensured Palace again missed out on a home win.
“Of course it is hard,” explained Andersen on dealing with the Seagull’s second-half retention of the ball.
“We need to run a lot, we need to run a lot of high intense metres in the press and take a little bit of a risk sometimes.
“Like I said, I think we did well in that. It was a step in the right direction.”
Eberechi Eze made a welcome 70th minute appearance from the bench following his recent injury at Luton, with Michael Olise getting another 90 minutes under his belt.
The well-documented injury problems in SE25 appear to be easing, something which augurs well going into the second part of the campaign for Andersen.
He added: “We have Michael, we have Ebz coming back in again, and we have Franca also from the bench.
“You saw in the last game (v Man City) he did some amazing stuff.
“We have some creative players and we need to play them good and hopefully they can score and create chances.”
