Two quick-fire goals following the restart meant Charlton were up against it. Gayle took the resultant free-kick but it marginally went over the bar.
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“We’ve got a great team here, not just the starting eleven”.
“His effort and determination today was fantastic and it was a top performance”.
The winger was substituted at half-time during Palace’s defeat at Tottenham, and Pardew later questioned his desire to do the necessary defensive work. By this point the side were serenely comfortable as the visitors seemed overawed by the occasion.
Dwight Gayle’s second-half hat-trick ensured that the bragging rights remained firmly with the Premier League outfit.
But a minute later the former Hull striker made amends, digging Zaha’s pass from out of his feet, turning his marker and slotting low into the corner.
Almost immediately, Charlton nearly equalised when Zakarya Bergdich forced Wayne Hennessey to make a sharp shave at his near post.
“They dug in well in the first half, but it was only a matter of time”.
It might be nearly seven years since that miserable day but the current Palace boss still remains something of a hate figure for many Charlton followers who hold him responsible for the club’s slide into League One in May 2009.
Gayle grabbed his first of the night with a penalty just before the hour mark after Charlton’s Alou Diarra brought Campbell down in the box.
Gayle grabbed his third with four minutes left when he found the net with a glancing header from Chung-yong Lee’s cross.
The Palace midfielder, who has played 53 games for the club since signing from Celtic in 2014, also dismissed the claim that Charlton should have had a penalty early into the second period. Game on.
“The draw has been kind to us so far, we’ve had two home games and we are in the last 16”.
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“He wasn’t even on the bench in the last game but he’s come here, hasn’t sulked and has shown what he can do”.
