“When the people like Watford gave me the support like they did, from the beginning, it’s great for the player”.
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The Eagles captain will settle for a repeat of the 2013 Championship play-off final between the closely-matched pair – a game which Palace won 1-0 thanks to an extra-time penalty from Kevin Phillips.
Yannick Bolasie nodded home to put Palace on their way to a 2-1 Wembley win over Watford that sealed a final showdown with Manchester United. “He needed a bit more experience, that’s all, and he’s getting that now with us”.
In fairness to Pardew, he did add that Steve Coppell – manager in 1990 – deserved some of the credit.
Though the two teams are different, Pardew said there were traits that the two shared, including pacey attackers.
“I hope destiny isn’t the same result”, Pardew said.
“But their front two (Deeney and Ighalo) can do such damage they can make up for any deficiency they have defensively”.
However, they were level for just six minutes before Pape Souare sent an inviting high cross towards Wickham, who rose above Nathan Ake and guided his header across Pantilimon and into the far corner.
After a poor run of form left them on the fringes of the Premier League relegation zone, Palace played with renewed confidence to deservedly beat a lacklustre Watford side.
“Zaha had a slight injury before the game and he nearly got one of the great semi final goals if he could have just finished that off”.
The Palace manager has addressed his own contract talks this month and reasserted that he wants to stay, but would not commit until they secure Premier League status for next year.
Here, football writer Declan Warrington lists five things we learned from a fixture that will do much to define both teams’ seasons.
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”. Other than for a short period I thought we controlled the game with some outstanding performances.
The defender was a Portsmouth player when they defeated Cardiff in the final in 2008 and lost to Chelsea in 2010, but was a long way from the first team on both occasions.
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Watford’s Jose Manuel Jurado, right, competes for the ball with Crystal Palace’s Joel Ward during the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Crystal Palace and Watford at Wembley stadium in London, Sunday April 24, 2016.
