Crystal Palace manager Tony Pulis has insisted that the second-half penalty given away by Marouane Chamakh was the turning point of the game.

Pulis's side ended up losing 2-0 with Wayne Rooney adding to Robin van Persie's spot kick, but he insists that up until that point, Palace were well in the contest.

"I thought United had a couple of good chances in the first half and on another day they could have scored," he told the club's official website. "They've not had many chances though, the keeper's not made any saves.

"Giving them the penalty obviously gave them a lift. I thought it was a penalty - Cham's come across him. He's worked really hard - I don't think he played very well today, but he worked really hard for us and he just made a bad decision, caught Evra and it was a penalty.

"Up until that point, we knew the longer the game went on with it being 0-0, the more opportunities we would get because United would press onto us. Like I say, they got a couple of goals and their second goal we could have done better with as well."

Palace are 15th in the Premier League after the defeat.