CRYSTAL Palace midfielder Barry Bannan says he and his team-mates were given a boost by Alan Pardew's arrival ahead of Sunday's FA Cup win at Dover Athletic.
The Eagles bossed the contest throughout, coming away with a 4-0 win – and Dover failed to have a shot on target in 90 minutes.
Bannan admitted Palace didn't want to let Dover have a sniff after seeing the likes of Blyth Spartans and Southport go close against Birmingham City and Derby County on Saturday.
"It was a case of getting the job done, everything went to plan," he told the Advertiser.
"We had an early gameplan of pressing them up high. Sometimes teams see a glimmer of hope.
"But we nipped that in the bud straight away with an early goal which was brilliant and then it was a professional performance from everyone.
"We scored the goals at the right times. We were just really professional and I don't think you can say too much about Dover.
"Sometimes you give teams an early incentive but we took the game to them right from the off.
"Obviously with a new manager coming in for us, it gave us a kickstart and a good boost.
"We saw that from everyone. Dover probably gave their all but we showed we were the Premier League team."
By Mark Ritson (Twitter @MR_LWMedia)
