Oliver Glasner lauded Crystal Palace’s “perfect” ending for Joel Ward after they beat Wolves 4-2 in their final home fixture of the season just days after their FA Cup triumph at Wembley.
Departing skipper Ward was replaced and waved farewell to the south London club following 13 years of service, on a day when cup final match-winner Eberechi Eze continued his scoring form.
He came off the bench at Selhurst Park to grab his side’s fourth as Palace came from behind to secure three points.
“When you write a book, you want a happy ending and it’s like this. We had the high and now we had a great ending and it was everything,” Glasner said post-match.
“It’s only three days after the win at Wembley, with Joel Ward captaining the team with a great performance. Getting the win for him in his final home game at Crystal Palace is a perfect story.
“Dreams come true and it was one of the toughest talks I’ve had to make to tell him (Ward) we won’t extend his contract here because he’s such a lovely guy and a great guy for the group.”
Emmanuel Agbadou’s header in the 24th minute gave Vitor Pereira’s men the lead before Eddie Nketiah’s five-minute double put him on three for the league season and seven overall since his reported £30m switch from Arsenal in the summer.
Chelsea loanee Ben Chilwell was rotated into the side at the expense of Tyrick Mitchell and Glasner’s decision paid dividends with the full-back’s deflected free-kick adding their third before Jorgen Strand Larsen pulled one back.
Eze produced a signature solo run and finish to round off a memorable win.
“It’s a big achievement. Winning the FA Cup here and being the first Austrian manager to do so,” Glasner added.
“We get the players in the positions where they can score. Ismaila (Sarr) got the assist for Eddie today, we could see with Eze, we could see with (Jean-Philippe) Mateta, we can see all of this on the training ground.
“We get the players into those situations but they always need to be focused in and out of possession, they need to run, they need to invest and then it comes down to their quality. They play in the Premier League and so should have the quality to score goals.”
Wolves were handed their third successive defeat as their form continues to slip since securing Premier League survival.
“To compete in the Premier League we need to be focused until the last minute and until the last game,” Wolves boss Pereira said.
“We can’t compete at this level if we offer the goals to the opposition. We came here to compete and today I saw a lot of mistakes and against this kind of team like Crystal Palace, Brighton and Brentford we need to be at our best level.”
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