Scott Dann admitted he should have “taken the initiative” after a mistake between the defender and Wayne Hennessey gifted Sunderland a 1-0 win at Selhurst Park on Monday night.

Crystal Palace dominated possession against Sam Allardyce’s defensive outfit but after failing to find a breakthrough, Jermain Defoe latched onto an 80th minute error to seal the win.

Dann appeared to shield the ball in anticipation of Hennessey rushing out after a pass by Billy Jones, but a miscommunication between the two gave Defoe an empty net to shoot in.

And the Palace centre-back was the first to admit he should have dealt with the situation more decisively.

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“When he’s played it through, I got the right side of Jermaine [Defoe],” the 28-year-old said.

“I took a look up and I’ve seen Wayne coming, I made my mind up to get my body in and he’s stopped.

“I should have just took the initiative and cleared it.”

A win would have seen the Eagles move up to sixth in the Premier League, and Dann conceded he had to hold his hands up after his costly error.

“That’s exactly what you have to do,” he added.

“We’ve ended up losing the game because of it, so it’s disappointing personally and as a team.

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“We’re disappointed we haven’t got anything out of the game.”

The away side lined up in a five-three-two formation that proved difficult to break down.

While Sunderland came to Selhurst Park with a slightly negative approach, Dann accepted that the Eagles need to become more potent at penetrating teams who set up defensively.

“We’ve had a lot of games like that, here especially,” he said.

“Teams are coming here, sitting back and saying ‘try and break us down’.

“We need to find a way quickly to break teams down.

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“Away from home it’s a different ball game and we seem to get the results, but we can’t quite get it here consistently.”

Dann also commented on the prospect of new investment, insisting performances on the pitch are vital to helping the club grow off it.

“Everyone around the club, and I’m sure the fans, will be delighted with it,” he said.

“The chairman keeps saying it’s got to be on the right terms and that’s the most important thing going forward.

“It shows the way the club is moving and hopefully we can make it bigger and that’s probably the next step in doing so, but we need to keep performing on the pitch as well.”

Pardew will be keen to reverse the Sunderland defeat on Saturday, when Palace travel to his former club Newcastle.

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