Southampton 2-3 Crystal Palace
- Published
Four goals in 13 first-half minutes
Chamakh brace puts Palace 3-2 up at break
Eagles into last-16 for first time in five seasons
Alan Pardew has four wins from four
Marouane Chamakh struck twice to inspire Crystal Palace to a thrilling win at Southampton and a first FA Cup fifth round appearance in five seasons.
The striker slid in a rebound to level Graziano Pelle's prodded close-range opener as the sides served up four goals in 13 first-half minutes.
Yaya Sanogo slammed in his first Palace goal with the aid of a deflection to cancel out Scott Dann's own goal.
And Chamakh sealed the win before half-time, rounding Fraser Forster to net.
It was a potent return from injury for Chamakh, who has been sidelined with a hamstring injury since 13 December.
His winner confirmed Palace's second last-16 appearance in 12 years and the striker was superbly supported by Sanogo, Wilfried Zaha and Fraizer Campbell.
They terrorised the Premier League's tightest defence. Ronald Koeman's side had conceded two goals in a game only once this season but Palace's three efforts from just 36% possession in the first half underlined their clinical display.
Former Newcastle manager Alan Pardew had to defend his approach towards the FA Cup this week, having won just one tie in four seasons on Tyneside - a record he has now surpassed in three weeks at Palace.
It is now four wins from four for the 53-year-old and his side ended Southampton's eight-match unbeaten run in the process.
Saints, whose manager Koeman has won domestic cups in Netherlands with Ajax and Spain with Valencia, led twice early on.
Pelle's prod from an in-swinging corner was followed swiftly by Chamakh's first goal since August, as he bravely followed up on Sanogo's shot to net from four yards.
Saints in top-flight hell again |
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Southampton have lost 17 of their last 24 FA Cup matches against top flight opposition (W3 D4 L17). |
Southampton, runners-up in 2003, have reached round five in six of the last 12 seasons and led again when Dann skewed into his own goal at the near post, but they again squandered the advantage quickly.
Sanogo and Campbell had drawn saves from Forster either side of Dann's unfortunate moment and they continued to probe - equalising when Sanogo slammed in the exceptional Zaha's pass with the aid of a wicked deflection.
And Palace were ahead before the break when Chamakh collected a diagonal through-ball on his chest before rounding Forster, ensuring both his shots on the day yielded goals.
Southampton pushed hard after the break but barely forced a save, with a wall of yellow shirts blocking shots and intercepting in key areas as Palace moved within three wins of a Wembley final.
Southampton boss Ronald Koeman: "It's not normal that a team like Crystal Palace - with all due respect, because they played very well - create so many possibilities.
"At least we had a good reaction in the second half, but it wasn't enough. We like to play offensive football, but we need communication in the defence to work together.
"We'd like to win every game, but we know our level and we have to be good to win games like this."
Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew said: "The players have been phenomenal. I did have a chuckle this morning when I saw the 'think-tank' in the paper when it said we had 0.02% chance to win the FA Cup - that's probably gone up a bit.
"I thought both teams were great. There was some really good football played. We are disappointed with the goals we conceded but the third goal would have graced any pitch in the world.
"Yaya Sanogo was good, Marouane Chamakh was better so it gives me a welcome selection headache."
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