Rico Lewis admitted he could not fully savour his first Premier League goal after the 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace he said had left Manchester City “very disappointed”.
The 19-year-old’s milestone moment came in the 54th minute at the Etihad Stadium as his finish put City 2-0 up, adding to Jack Grealish’s first-half strike.
At that point the hosts had dominated possession and appeared to be cruising to victory, but they ended up with only a point after Jean-Philippe Mateta pulled a 76th-minute goal back for Palace and Michael Olise then equalised with a penalty in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
Scoring his first goal in the @premierleague! ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/Elu6USy3iH
— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 16, 2023
Lewis told City’s official website: “We are very disappointed with the result, it’s unfortunate with the performance we put in.
“We were so good in terms of controlling the game and scoring two goals, but at the end of the day we’ve not got the result we came for. The people in that dressing room want to win every single game.
“It’s football and stuff can happen that you don’t expect, and that’s what happened.”
On his goal, he said: “It was a good feeling in the moment. But as soon as we were on to the next action in the game, it’s kind of forgotten about, and now I can’t enjoy it as much as I would have liked to.
“It’s a positive in a negative, at the end of the day we wanted the result and we’ve not got it.”
It was a fifth time in six Premier League outings that City, fourth in the table, have dropped points.
Pep Guardiola’s treble-winners are next in action at the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia, playing Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds in the semis on Tuesday, with the final and third-place play-off then taking place on Friday.
Lewis said: “It’s another challenge, another game for us to react and show how good we are and that’s the good thing about football, there’s always another game.
“We need to show and prove to everyone, and more importantly to ourselves, that we can get the results we deserve.”
As well as conceding twice, a setback for Palace prior to their fightback was skipper Joel Ward having to come off in the first half with a hamstring problem, adding to an already lengthy injury list.
Ward was replaced by David Ozoh, the 18-year-old midfielder who in January became Palace’s youngest ever Premier League player.
He told the Eagles’ official website: “It was good to come on and play in a game like this. To be trusted by the manager (Roy Hodgson) is a great feeling – I’m really happy.
“They’re all tough games, but I just try my best every time I get on the pitch. I just want to deliver for everyone.
“I’ve been here since I was 10. To be able to celebrate with the fans was great. It was the best feeling ever. Hopefully there’ll be more to celebrate like that.”
Hodgson’s men are 15th, eight points clear of the relegation zone.
