Chronicle EditorLONDON. — Alan Pardew claimed Crystal Palace were inspired by the spirit of 1990 as they beat Watford 2-1 to set up an FA Cup soccer final revenge mission against Manchester United.
Pardew scored the winning goal when Palace shocked Liverpool in the Cup semi-finals 26 years ago and the Eagles manager leaned heavily on that famous giant-killing to mastermind the south Londoners’ success at Wembley on Sunday.
After inspiring his players earlier in the week with a motivational talk about the 1990 run, which ended in a final replay defeat against United, Pardew also reached back into the archives for a set-piece routine used by then boss Steve Coppell.
A back-flicked header by Andy Thorn from a corner led to Pardew’s headed winner against Liverpool. And Palace deployed the same tactic to create the opening goal in the sixth minute against Watford when Damien Delaney headed on Yohan Cabaye’s corner for Yannick Bolasie to nod home.
“It got a couple of mentions in the week. Some of my staff talk about it all the time,” Pardew said.
“We did pay homage to that side with the flicked on corner. Sometimes history does repeat itself.
“It was a well constructed goal and Steve Coppell can take a bit of credit for that.” — AFP.
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