DOUGIE Freedman could offer no excuses after watching his side throw away a 2-1 lead in the final minutes against Watford on a sweltering opening day of the season at Selhurst Park.

The afternoon started brightly as the Eagles went into the break leading 2-1 after two strikes from Owen Garvan left the home side sitting atop of the Championship table.

But the hosts dropped deeper and deeper and were made to pay as the second half drew to a close when they were stung by two stunning strikes from Hornets new boys Almen Abdi and Metej Vydra.

The Palace boss had no argument with the result, admitting his side didn’t do enough to deserve the three points.

He said: “We’ve got to be better than that to win games.

“We didn’t do our jobs in the last 10 minutes as well as we should have done and we couldn’t defend well enough as a team.

“There are no excuses as to why not, we’ll look at the video, assess it and move on quickly from this.

“At 2-1 up with five minutes to go, you perhaps think you’ve won the game and that’s maybe what we have to look at.

“We had a couple of half chances to kill the game off but obviously they got the second goal, the momentum was with them and we were hanging on.

“I thought we probably did enough to warrant a draw but at 2-2, the momentum was with them.”

It was a tough afternoon for the players with temperatures reaching 30 degrees, but the Palace boss refused to blame the conditions for his side’s late capitulation.

He insisted: “It had an influence but it was the same for both sides, so no excuses from that point of view because it was the same for both sides.

“As I say, we didn’t deserve to win the game but I felt that we had gotten away with it but these things happen in football and as I say, we will be reacting in a very positive way on Tuesday night.”