CRYSTAL Palace boss Roy Hodgson launched a staunch defence of Wilfried Zaha, insisting the winger was not a cheat.

Zaha won two controversial penalties during Palace's 2-2 draw with Cherries at Selhurst Park on Saturday.

Luka Milivojevic converted the first after Zaha had drawn minimal contact from Cherries goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.

However, Begovic had the last laugh when he saved Christian Benteke's tame spot-kick in stoppage-time after Zaha had gone to ground under a Charlie Daniels challenge.

In the face of criticism from Cherries players and pundits, Hodgson moved to defend Zaha against claims he had conned referee Kevin Friend for at least one – if not both – penalties.

"He doesn't dive, that's the simple fact of the matter," said the former England manager.

"Apart from the two penalties awarded, there were at least half-a-dozen other occasions where if you looked at it with a fine-tooth comb, like everyone seems to want to do, there could have been more penalties.

"He doesn't dive, so that doesn't bother me.

"We haven't had an awful lot of luck with refereeing decisions at home.

"And if you really want to talk about refereeing decisions, I suggest you look at the first Jermain Defoe goal where their player had two arms around our defender, stopping him moving."

Cherries boss Eddie Howe said he would "await feedback" after complaining to the match officials about both penalty awards.

Everton forward Oumar Niasse became the first Premier League player to be punished for the offence of "successful deception of a match official" – during a match against Palace last month – and was banned for two matches.

Howe said: "Our players felt the second one should definitely not have been given. They felt Charlie had got the ball.

"That really hurt. We would have lost the game but for a great save from our goalkeeper.

"The first one wasn't clear-cut either."