CRYSTAL Palace youngster David Ozoh says he always had faith the Eagles could make their quality count in Saturday’s 2-2 comeback draw at treble winners Manchester City.
The visitors were already trailing to Jack Grealish’s opener when 18-year-old Ozoh was introduced from the bench on 34 minutes to replace injured skipper Joel Ward.
City doubled their advantage early in the second-half through Rico Lewis, but Palace have been something of a bogey side for Pep Guardiola’s City in recent years and so it proved again.
Jean-Phillippe Mateta halved the deficit in the 76th minute and then Palace were awarded a stoppage time penalty following a foul on Mateta by Phil Foden.
Up stepped Michael Olise to rescue a point and give Ozoh a memorable day he won’t forget with just over an hour of playing time under his belt, the longest he has represented the club so far after late cameos against Newcastle and Liverpool.
Ozoh told Palace TV: “It was good to come on and play in a game like this.
“To be trusted by the manager is a great feeling, so I’m really happy.
“They are all tough games, but I just try my best every time I get put on the pitch.
“I just want to deliver for everyone. I’m just really happy.”
Although a defensive midfielder, Ozoh was asked to step into a back five which spent most of the game dealing with City’s wave of attacks following Ward’s untimely departure.
“It’s not easy, it’s tough,” the youngster admitted.
“There is a lot of passing, a lot of running – that’s the big thing.
“My legs are killing right now but I’ve got to rest them for another big game coming up this week.
“I’ve been here for a long time. I’ve been here since I was 10 so to be able to celebrate with the fans was great.
“It was the best feeling ever and hopefully there will be many more (games) to celebrate like that.
“We just knew that we’ve got the quality. We’ve got the players to come back.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, it is going to be hard but we just knew that if we dig deep we can get a result here.
“Two good goals and two good chances, so yeah, very happy.”
Keeper Dean Henderson put his recent injury problems behind him with his first 90-minute appearance for the Eagles since his summer switch from Manchester United.
“It was good,” said Henderson.
“It is probably the toughest game you can come into.
“With the concentration I feel exhausted now. I’m just delighted to come through the game.
“It has been a long year for me, so I’m just delighted to put on the Palace colours and thanks to all the fans for supporting me.”
Like Ozoh, Henderson also maintained the faith Palace could get something even with the clock ticking down.
“I think 2-0 is a dangerous scoreline,” explained the keeper.
“We stayed in the game. Two-nil looks like it is dead and buried, but it’s definitely not and obviously it shows. We nick a goal, things get edgy in the stadium and you can feel it.
“The fans are edgy, moaning and obviously to get the penalty probably a bit of karma after the first-half incident (when Ederson was only booked for a late challenge on Mateta).
“I’m delighted for the boys, they deserved that and they ran their socks off today.
“We were bouncing off the walls when we got in. We were all knackered as well but it was great, honestly.
“The fans deserved that as well around Christmas time. They stood by us because we’ve had some poor results, but we’ve just got to keep going and keep fighting for each other.”
