Ben Gibson refuses to blame George Friend for Middlesbrough loss against Crystal Palace
Sunday 11 September 2016 13:33, UK
Middlesbrough's Ben Gibson has absolved his fellow defender George Friend of any blame for Saturday's 2-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace.
Christian Benteke headed Palace into a 16th-minute lead at the Riverside with his first goal for the club, but Daniel Ayala levelled for Boro before the break.
However, full-back Friend left his attempted back-pass to goalkeeper Victor Valdes woefully short to gift Wilfried Zaha what proved to be the winner for the Eagles in the 47th minute.
Centre-back Gibson said: "It was a mistake, but we win and lose as a team. I have made plenty of mistakes, we have all made mistakes in the past, so once that happened, you have just got to get on with it.
"George reacted really well and we were unlucky not to come out of the game with something. We certainly controlled large parts of the game and we had good opportunities to make good chances.
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"It's a good learning curve for us, it's a lesson because if you are not at 100 per cent full tilt, you are going to be punished in this league.
"It's all been rosy up to now because we have had a good start to the season, but that's the Premier League: make mistakes and you are punished. But we win and lose as a team."
