WILL Hughes remained in diplomatic mode when asked for his opinion on the controversial penalty which saw Crystal Palace fall behind in stoppage time at Villa Park.
After a lacklustre opening period from the visitors, the Eagles looked more lively from the restart and took an early second half lead when Odsonne Edouard struck his fourth goal of the season.
Palace held on to their advantage until the 87th minute, only to see it cancelled out by Jhon Duran’s excellent individual volley.
But the big talking point came early in stoppage time after Chris Richards was adjudged to have fouled Ollie Watkins by referee Darren England.
VAR asked the official to review his decision again, as the camera evidence clearly showed Richards had touched the ball.
However, England stuck to his guns and the original award stood, with Douglas Luiz sending Eagles keeper Sam Johnstone the wrong way from the spot.
Villa then went on to add a third through Leon Bailey in the 101st minute and although disappointed with the outcome, Hughes chose his words carefully when it came to the game-changing penalty decision,
He said: “There’s a mix of emotions, I think.
“The talking point is obviously the penalty.
“But if you look at the bigger picture (in) the first half, I don’t think we were quite at it.
“They created a couple of chances. In the second half we had plenty of breakaways, which we didn’t take advantage of.
“When you’re 1-0 up and you come to Villa, you need to try and get a second and third because they’re going to try and do what they did – get back in the game.
“I think people will make their own mind up about the penalty when they watch it.”
Hughes also admitted Palace had to improve after the interval because they struggled to cope with Villa’s dominance.
He added: “In the first half, I don‘t think we pressed our man as aggressively as we should have.
“You saw that at the start of the second half – when we did that, we got the ball back a few times.
“It’s a learning curve but ultimately it’s a bitter pill to swallow, conceding two goals in the last five minutes.”
Follow us on X @sportsouthlndn
