Roy Hodgson says Crystal Palace were "incensed" by a first-minute foul by Albion matchwinner Anthony Knockaert.

But the Palace boss said there was no malicious intent about the challenge which had home fans calling for a red card.

The Albion winger was booked after a foul on Luka Milivojevic and went on to score what Hodgson recognised as a “fantastic” winning goal.

The Palace manager said: “He committed a bad foul. I don’t think it was a malicious foul, it was a winger’s tackle, trying to show his commitment in a derby game.

“I presume the referee gave him the benefit of the doubt. Certainly it was a fantastic goal to win the game.

He added: “We were incensed by the challenge, of course. I thought it looked like a very dangerous one.

“I was very pleased to see Luka Milivojevic get to his feet again. My first thought was to turn to Cheik Kouyate and tell him to get warmed up because I had visions of him not being able to carry on.

“But it happened a long time ago. We had 95 minutes after that to try to win the game and we were unable to do so.

Glenn Murray gave Albion their first lead after a high ball was misjudged by home defender James Tomkins.

Hodgson said: “We can consider ourselves unlucky with the first one, the ball got caught in the wind.

“We were pushing hard against a well-drilled defence and then we concede one of those unstoppable goals.

“It’s a very disappointing day. It’s hard to lose games at home, even harder to lose derby matches.”