JOEL Ward felt he managed to contain tricky winger and former Crystal Palace man Wayne Routledge during Sunday's clash with Swansea City.
Routledge looked bright down the left flank at times and Ward had to adjust his game slightly to cope, but the defender felt he and the defence managed to nullify the wide threats.
"Every wide player is different and each one you come up against, each one is different," Ward told the Advertiser.
"The two wide players for Swansea are very tricky because they stay out wide and make good runs, are intelligent and good on the ball.
"Sometimes you have to give yourself a couple of yards to stop them as a source and I thought we did that for the majority of the game.
"There were only a couple of times where we had to tuck in tight to cover. On the whole, we did well and dealt with their main threats."
Looking back on the game in which Palace were the better side in the second half, Ward felt he could have done more to prevent Swansea's opener in the first period.
But the way the Eagles performed in the second half was a major positive for the right-back.
"We certainly did better, we pressed higher and won the ball back more," said Ward.
"I thought we grew into the game, created chances and had the legs on Swansea towards the end.
"I thought the shape in the first half was something different. The goal, their man played well but I thought I could have been tucked in a little bit more to stop the through-ball.
"We saw it through to half-time and knew if we stayed in the game we had every chance of coming out with a point or all three.
"We'll just carry on being hard to beat and solid. If we stay in matches, prolong it and get into the last 20-25 minutes, we've got a great chance because we can frustrate teams and catch them on the break.
"Swansea are a good side and they moved the ball well but we knew if we stayed compact, frustrate them and hit them on the break, in the second half we showed we were a lot more of a threat.
"We created a lot more chances and in the end we could have walked away with all three points."
And Ward hailed goalkeeper Julian Speroni for a wonder save from Wilfried Bony when Palace were trailing 1-0.
He said: "It was massive – it was a great save from him. That's what he's capable of and what he does. Thankfully he kept us in the game."
