PATRICK BAMFORD hit out after Monday's match and announced that he was ending his season-long loan at Crystal Palace and returning to parent club Chelsea.
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| Patrick Bamford has harsh words for Alan Pardew and Crystal Palace |
Bamford, 22, had been a second-half substitute, and had missed the best chance of the match, but these frustrations were nothing compared to his disappointment at failing to make a single start for the club under manager Alan Pardew.
"It has been terrible," he said. "I would have been more content if I had been given a chance and not taken it. I haven't started a game in the Premier League, so for a young player like me that is not what you need."
Bamford, who was on loan to Middlesbrough last season, has played only 119 minutes of Premier League football at Palace.
He said: "I was frustrated because there weren't many strikers scoring. Connor [Wickham] only scored his first goal last week.
"As a striker, it might be short-sighted of me but obviously scoring goals is a striker's job. If you are not playing and the other strikers are not scoring and you are not getting a chance, obviously I was pulling my hair out."
This was a poor match that only came to life in the second half. Swansea made eight changes in an attempt to combat fixture fatigue, and marked Yohan Cabaye tightly. His frustrations were plain in a yellow card for a foul on Jack Cork, his principal marker, which rules him out of Sunday's match at home to Chelsea.
The first real chance went to Brede Hangeland after 48 minutes, but his header from Cabaye's free kick was saved by Lukasz Fabianski, and Palace should have won it when Ashley Williams blocked James McArthur's shot and Bamford hit the loose ball straight at Fabianski from only 12 yards - not the best of farewells.
Instead, Wayne Hennessey had to preserve Palace's point with a diving save from Gylfi Sigurdsson's injury-time free kick.
The draw, though, was a positive for Swansea caretaker Alan Curtis, who has masterminded three successive clean sheets and five points from four games since stepping in for Garry Monk.
"Results will buy the club a bit of time but we have to bring the right person in," he said. "If it takes a bit longer, or even until the summer, so be it."
Crystal Palace (4-3-3): Hennessey; Ward, Dann, Hangeland, Souare; McArthur (Mutch 75), Jedinak, Cabaye; Zaha, Chamakh (Bamford 45), Puncheon (Lee 71). Booked: Hangeland, Souare, Cabaye. NEXT UP: Chelsea (h), Sun PL
Swansea (4-1-2-1-2): Fabianski; Naughton, Amat (Bartley 77), Williams, Taylor; Cork; Shelvey (Ki 56), Grimes; Emnes (Sigurdsson 56); Gomis, Barrow. Booked: Taylor, Ki. NEXT UP: Manchester United (a), Sat PL
Referee: N Swarbrick (Lancs).
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