Relief for Sam but no time to celebrate

OUT of the misery finally came a win With it Sam Allardyce punched the air and allowed himself a grin, but just as quickly it was gone — he knows there are far more meaningful hurdles to clear than this It has been a rotten time for Crystal Palace’s manager since he rocked up at Christmas, with five winless games before this fixture and the increasing realisation that his side are in deep trouble For a decent stretch of time in this third-round replay, that crisis was getting worse His side looked sloppy, nervous, damaged by recent experiences in the Premier League and then they fell behind to Allardyce’s former club when James Henry lobbed Julian Speroni three minutes into the second half But a Christian Benteke header moments after he came off the substitutes’ bench got Palace back into the tie And his half-volley with 13 minutes to play turned the match and the narrative Allardyce had his win, while Palace have a tie with Manchester City on Sunday week in the fourth round, even if Allardyce had made it abundantly clear earlier in the week that he has bigger concerns than the FA Cup Especially with Palace just above the relegation zone That was underlined on the night with seven changes to the side last fielded in the league and for more than an hour, until Benteke came on, Allardyce must have been alarmed to see how his fringe players struggled against League One opposition ‘I would not have wanted that team to lose to Bolton,’ said Allardyce ‘Some of that team are playing regularly in the Premier League, so if they had lost they would be telling me they are not good enough to beat a League One side at home ‘But winning gives everyone a bit of relief for a short period of time By the morning it’ll be about getting minds on our next game against Everton on Saturday ‘Everton is more important now I need them at their top form and to stay there for a period of time, and that comes from believing in their ability, going to watch videos from 2015 when they went fifth in the Premier League Let that bring them confidence to play like that again ’