FA Cup final agony will inspire us, insists Crystal Palace chief
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has vowed the club will build on a painful FA Cup final defeat to Manchester United on Saturday.
The Eagles were just nine minutes away from a first major trophy before Juan Mata equalised Jason Puncheon’s strike, and substitute Jesse Lingard snatched the trophy for 10-man United in extra-time.
“Obviously it hurts. We’ve got a lot of work to do and will come back next season. We’ll try to get better and improve. We’ve got to take strength from it and see what we can do to improve the squad,” said Parish.
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“No one died. We lost a game of football. It’s not great. We’re all going to feel pain for the next few weeks. But we’ll lick our wounds and come back – that’s what we do.
"We’ve got an important season again next season, another two cup campaigns. So let’s see if we can’t learn from it and come back and try and win it again.”
Parish admitted Palace’s opponents “probably deserved it” but conceded to frustration at Mark Clattenburg’s refereeing and United midfielder Marouane Fellaini’s combative style.
“They were doing everything they could to stop our players getting away and I think everyone saw there could have been some advantages played that weren’t,” he added.
“There was one with Connor [Wickham] that was just ludicrous. It was obvious he was going to get up. But I don’t think we’ve got too many complaints.
“Every contact off Fellaini is a foul. He just fouls. How he stays on the football pitch in most games is beyond me. But you have to deal with it and I thought Mile [Jedinak, Palace midfielder] did pretty well.”