OTD: Palace reach cup final in style (2016)
Sometimes it takes hundreds of appearances to write your name into club folklore, and sometimes it takes just one. Step up Connor Wickham.
On this day (23rd April) 10 years ago, Palace were aiming to reach a first FA Cup final since the heroic side of 1990, but Watford stood in their way.
There were narratives aplenty: the last time the two teams met at Wembley was the 2013 Championship play-off final, in which Kevin Philips scored a late winner from the penalty spot to help the Eagles secure promotion.
Palace had not had the easiest of cup runs, beating Southampton, Stoke City, Tottenham Hotspur – thanks to a remarkable Martin Kelly strike – and Reading, and came into the match full of confidence.
It told. After just six minutes, Yannick Bolasie got the Eagles off to a flying start, heading home Damien Delaney’s flick-on to send the Palace end wild.
Watford were level shortly after half-time, however, with captain Troy Deeney netting to set up a tense finale.
On the hour mark, however, up stepped Wickham, losing his marker and rising highest to meet Pape Souaré’s inch-perfect cross and planting a header firmly into the corner to put the Eagles ahead once again.
A nail-biting final half-hour passed by interminably slowly, but eventually the final whistle brought an explosion of red and blue and saw Palace book a return date at Wembley for the FA Cup final.
Although the Eagles were defeated on that occasion by Manchester United, rest assured: they would have their day of glory at Wembley...