It has certainly been one of the better week’s being a Crystal Palace fan as we reached the FA Cup final for the first time in twenty-one years.
Reward for beating Championship side Reading in the quarter-finals is a tie against Watford at Wembley at the end of April.
We know Watford fairly well as they are in the Premier League with us, but at Wembley we have had the better of the contests. It is impossible to forget that famous day where we beat them to secure promotion to the top flight.
Considering the teams that are left in the competition, both sets of supporters will be very happy with the draw. Now that we have been drawn to play them, it is up to the lads to go out and make some more history.
Looking back at the Reading game, we should have made it a lot more comfortable than it was. In fairness though, we have to give credit to Ali Al Habsi who pulled off a string of fine saves to keep Brian McDermott’s men in the contest.
If the penalty was anything to go by, it looks as though luck might be changing for the side. If that decision had been given against us we would all be up in arms. Regardless, we deserved the win over the course of the ninety minutes. We just have to pick up our league form now to show people that we are good enough to possibly win the FA Cup and keep our place in the league.
The game at the Madejski Stadium threw up some positives, and one most pleasing was the seemingly growing connection between Yannick Bolasie, Wilfried Zaha, and Emmanuel Adebayor.
Throughout the the game the front three looked a real threat going forward and having Bolasie back in the side has really shown how much we missed him over Christmas.
In the second-half Zaha went missing for periods, but later in the game he picked it up again. What was encouraging, the budding partnership between the trio which I hope will see a return in more goals flying in at the right end.
It has been a constant theme of the last two or three seasons that we do not score enough goals. At the beginning of this season we thought Alan Pardew might have cracked the formula with the signing of Connor Wickham. It just has not materialised and even with Adebayor coming in, he has not found the net on too many occasions since playing in the red and blue even though he has been a real threat.
I am confident goals will start flowing soon. Before yet another injury Wickham had a purple patch where he scored two at West Bromwich Albion and then two at Sunderland. It has been said so many times this season, injury has curtailed his progress once again.
Other than the impending goal boom that I am expecting, another person I was really pleased with on Friday night was our captain Mile Jedinak.
From being a regular last season, to at times being a bit-part player this year, it must have been difficult for our Aussie captain. When he has been called to step into the breach, he has done it with professionalism and class.
We all know his qualities, and his deficiencies but what you cannot level at Jedinak is lack of commitment. He leads by example every time he steps onto the field, and for that I have serious respect for him.
Whatever people say, he can still do a job for us. Calling him a ‘battering ram’ I feel is unfair on Mile. While he does not have that passing ability of Yohan Cabaye, he reads the game well and at Reading he was always in the right place at the right time. If it was not for Al Habsi he would have got himself on the score sheet.
Most Palace fans thought in January it would be the last we saw of Jedinak after interest from Stoke City, but he stayed around and I feel the side is still benefitting from his experience. However, it is inevitable that he will gradually be phased out sometime in the near future which we will just have to accept.
If we want to push on, I suspect a few names that have served us well over the past couple of seasons years will move to pastures new. We need not worry about that though until the time comes.
Next up is Premier League title dreamers Leicester City at Selhurst this Saturday. It would be nice to add another twist in this exciting season by putting the Foxes to the sword.
We cannot really afford another loss, instead we need to start adding more points to the board and Saturday would be the ideal place to start.
