No nerves for Nathan Ferguson as defender finally makes Crystal Palace debut

Nathan Ferguson said that he did not feel any nerves before making his Crystal Palace debut in their 3-0 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur.

Ferguson signed in the summer of 2020 from West Bromwich Albion, but injuries have meant that he has been sidelined.

He replaced Tyrick Mitchell in the 82nd minute of the derby in north London.

Ferguson told Palace TV: “I wasn’t as nervous as I thought. I feel like I’ve prepared so much that my body couldn’t be filled with nerves.

“I’ve been waiting, watching and training for so long that today just felt like another game. I’m very happy though to finally say I’m a Palace player. Coming on makes me feel like I’m a proper Palace player. It’s great to be back on the pitch, back in front of the fans and be back in front of the Eagles as well.

“There’s a lot of love towards the fans, they’ve been so nice to me ever since I’ve been here for a year and half now. Positive vibes all the time. I can only be grateful.

“We started off well. After they got their first goal and then their second goal in close proximity it didn’t help at all.

“You can’t be too disappointed because of the circumstances. We played well, we now have to look forward to the next game against Norwich.

“It was crazy because we were meant to stay over in a hotel. We weren’t too sure if the game was going to go ahead, so we had to wake up early to see if it was going to go ahead.

“A lot of us had to travel hours to get in. I travelled for an hour and 20 minutes to get to the hotel. It wasn’t the best preparation, but there’s no excuses. If we would’ve won the game we wouldn’t have been making excuses.”