ALAN Pardew described how Palace lacked that "classic moment" today as his side picked up their first defeat under his stewardship in a 1-0 loss to Everton.
Romelu Lukaku's tap in from two yards inside the opening two minutes was the only significant difference between the two sides on the day.
Pardew said: "It was frustrating. Again we started poorly.
"We conceded the first goal and I had a strange feeling today, even before the goal went it that the first was going to be crucial and it proved to be.
"I thought Everton defended well, they made it difficult for us, frustrated us, and we never really produced a classic moment or a great moment today, which is a shame.
"We had a lot of technical play, a lot of good play but that final pass or idea let us down today."
Palace came close to equalising on a couple occasions, with Dwight Gayle and Jason Puncheon having the best of those chances.
Despite Palace coming from behind against Burnley and Southampton in recent outings, the early goal was one step too far for Pardew's men today.
"[The early goal] affected our confidence today," said Pardew.
"You always want to concentrate as the home team on a fast start and then you go 1-0 down and it's a big blow after two minutes.
"I think we showed enough today. We can change our style a bit, we can control the game, which we had to do.
"The emphasis on us to try and play our way through Everton and we got ourselves in some great situations today but we didn't quite produce it today but on another day, we will."
