CONNOR Wickham admits Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew kept reminding the squad of how big his goal was in the 1990 FA Cup semi-final ahead of Sunday’s game with Watford.
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Yannick Bolasie and Connor Wickham were Palace’s semi-final heroes to secure the club’s first final appearance for 26 years.
Yohan Cabaye’s corner was flicked on by Damien Delaney and Bolasie rose highest at the far post to nod home.
The London club are in 16 in the table and, although they’re now eight points clear of the relegation zone, they need five points from their remaining three games.
However, the tide soon turned, and Deeney and Almen Abdi were next to put efforts on goal. The former Spurs midfielder was taken off on a stretcher before returning to the field. But following a strong first half to the season, Watford’s survival was assured with weeks to spare.
However, six minutes later, the Eagles regained their lead.
“It was hard to play Palace who defend with an English style and have pace and power”.
The showpiece encounter, which is scheduled for May 21, will see Manchester United take on Crystal Palace in a repeat of the 1990 final.
But Pardew left several first-team regulars out at Old Trafford and Dann doesn’t believe the result will have any bearing on the final.
It feels good because we deserve to be in the final.
Pardew added: “I thought the team were very focused”.
We’ve earned that right.
“We played them last week but it was with a totally different team and missing a lot of players”.
Watford mounted late pressure to drag the game extra-time but Palace held on to advance to their second Cup final.
Hornets goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon thwarted Bolasie shortly after the restart as Palace threatened a second, only for Watford to engineer their way back into the game on 55 minutes. But we have got players who can hurt any team.
It’s great for our fans. I’m just looking forward to the final.
Though the atmosphere inside Wembley remained at fever pitch, there was little to shout about as Watford failed to turn possession into penetration and Palace’s final ball was lacking when they made tracks in wide areas.
“I am pleased with the performance”, Flores told BBC Sport.
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The head coach said: “We started this match safe in the main competition so there are reasons to be happy, to enjoy and be positive”.
