Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock said he couldn’t fault his side’s effort despite going down 2-0 at Hull City this afternoon.

A poor first half finished goalless, although the Eagles suffered an early setback when Scott Dann suffered a knee injury and was replaced by Adrian Mariappa.

Hull upped the tempo after the restart and got their noses in front on the hour when Mo Diame powered home a header after meeting Andy Robertson’s delivery.

Yannick Bolasie was only denied a spectacular equaliser by a super stop from Steve Harper and Hull made the game safe in the final minute as Joe Ledley  was dispossessed by Jake Livermore, who released Nikica Jelavic.

The former Everton striker cut inside a Palace defender and placed a low shot beyond Julian Speroni to consign the Eagles to their first Premier League defeat since Warnock returned to SE25.

He said: “I’m disappointed with one or two things but I can’t fault the effort, I thought the effort was there.

“We probably needed a little bit more belief.

“I thought when we went a goal down it was probably our best spell - I want that before we go a goal down.

“I can’t criticise. I thought the way they played, they are at home and they play sort of five and three, so I thought that was a compliment that they changed completely. “

Warnock also questioned why ex-Tigers striker Fraizer Campbell had been booked despite suffering  a number of fouls, notably an alleged elbow by Michael Dawson.

The Selhurst boss added: “I was disappointed I had to take Fraizer Campbell off for a number of fouls which were silly, but in the first minute he gets body checked outside the box, which for me is a yellow card.

“And then just before half-time the elbow from Michael Dawson – I’ve seen red cards given for less than that and the ref doesn’t see that but he sees all the little niggles that poor old Fraizer gets booked for.

“I think he (the ref) should be in a position to see elbows like that and know when it is not an accident.

“You shouldn’t be able to lead like that, it is going to be dangerous play.

“They should obviously be educated a little bit better, even though he is one of our better refs.”

Warnock also claimed the outcome could have been different had Bolasie drawn his side level with that long range screamer.

 “I don’t think there is much in it,” the manager said on the final score.

“With the Bolasie shot it is only a wonder save from Harper, if that goes in it changes the whole course of the game and we are on top then and they are under a little bit of pressure. 

“That’s the difference in the league we are in – it is a fine line.

“We were unlucky Scott Dann got injured so early when he has done so well for us lately, which threw a little spanner in the works.

“All credit to the lad Mariappa who came on, I thought he handled it quite well.

“I thought we defended when we had to. I can’t remember Julian Speroni making a save really.”

Diame’s header was in fact the first effort on target, a statistic which didn’t exactly surprise the Eagles chief.

“The system that they played, I’m sure that’s what Steve was hoping - to pinch it like that - and it worked for him,” said Warnock.

Palace now face an anxious wait to discover just how serious Dann’s injury is, with Warnock unable to throw much light on the situation in the immediate aftermath of the game.

“I don’t know,” he said.

“His knee is the problem but we don’t obviously know until he has had scans.

“I haven’t seen the incident, I saw him at half-time and had a quick word with him.

“He has been fantastic for us since I’ve been here so he is a big loss but hopefully it might not be as bad as we think.

“We don’t know until the scans come in, we will just have to cross our fingers.”

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