SCOTT DANN bemoaned another poor start as the reason Palace lost for the first time under Alan Pardew against Everton.
Romelu Lukaku's second-minute goal was all that separated the two sides on a day where the Eagles huffed and puffed but couldn't break down a well drilled Toffees defence to inflict Pardew's first defeat in five games as Palace boss.
Dann took a knock to the head midway through the first half, not long after the same fate happened to Marouane Chamakh, who broke his nose and was forced off.
The defender soldiered on with a Terry Butcher-esque headband wrapped around his head and went on to put in another accomplished display.
After the game, Dann said that Palace have to put the loss behind them and prepare for a "cup final" this weekend away at 20th-placed Leicester City.
"I think everyone was positive before the game and them [Everton] scoring so early maybe put us on the back foot," he said.
"It took the wind out of us and took us a while to get back into the game. We weren't good enough in the first half, though.
"I think that first and foremost, we put this to bed and it's a cup final for us next Saturday. It is against a team in and around us and want to look to take points off them."
Dann felt Palace defended well against Everton as a unit and that Lukaku was fortunate in bundling home the game's only goal.
He added: "It was tough, we knew that it would be. Lukaku got fortunate for the goal but we had our chances. There wasn't much in it, but they got the lead and we found it tough to break them down.
"They are a good side, have come here and defended really well. We probably didn't put enough quality into the box as we have been in recent weeks.
"We defended well but to conceded an early goal again was disappointing. On the whole, they didn't really do much until the end and I ended up front we only had two back.
"They broke on us a couple of times but I don't think we were on it maybe as much as we have been in recent times."
