Oliver Glasner has praised Joel Ward's “perfect” finish as his side beat Wolves 4-2 in their final home game of the season, just days after their FA Cup triumph at Wembley.
Outgoing captain Ward was replaced and bid farewell to the south London club after 13 years of dedicated service, while Cup final winner Eberechi Eze continued to produce excellent performances.
He came on as a substitute at Selhurst Park to score his side's fourth goal as Palace fought back to secure three points.
“When you write history, you want a happy ending, and here it is. We had joy, and now we have had a great ending, and it was for all of us,” Glasner said after the match.
“It's only three days since our win at Wembley and Joel Ward has captained a side that has played at a very high level. To give him victory in his final home game for Crystal Palace is the perfect story.
“Dreams do come true and it was one of the hardest conversations I've had to have to tell him (Ward) that we weren't going to renew his contract because he's a really great person and a great leader for the team.”
Emmanuel Agbadu's 24th-minute strike put Vitor Pereira's side ahead before Eddie Nketiah's fifth-minute brace gave him three league goals this season and seven overall since his £30million move from Arsenal in the summer.
Chelsea loanee Ben Chilwell was brought into the side in place of Tyreek Mitchell and Glasner's decision paid off as a deflected free-kick from the defender became the third goal before Jorgen Stran Larsen reduced the deficit.
Eze put in an impressive solo run to complete a memorable victory.
“It's a significant achievement to win the FA Cup here and become the first Austrian coach to do so,” Glasner added.
“We put players in positions where they can score. Ismaila (Sarr) was assisted by Eddy today, you could see it with Eze, you can see it with (Jean-Philippe) Mateta, we can see it in training.
“We put the players in these situations but they always need to stay focused both with and without the ball. They need to run a lot and give everything they have and then it all depends on their skill level. They play in the Premier League so they need to have the quality to score goals.”
Wolves suffered a third successive defeat as their form continues to slump after securing a place in the Premier League.
“To compete in the Premier League we need to stay focused until the last minute and the last game,” said Wolverhampton manager Pereira.
“We can't compete at this level if we concede goals. We came here to compete and I saw a lot of mistakes today and against teams like Crystal Palace, Brighton and Brentford we need to be at the top level.”
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
