Pardew hopes to reward Palace fans with trip to Wembley
(Reuters) - Crystal Palace should seize the opportunity to give their anxious fans, who have grown increasingly concerned about the club's dire Premier League form, an FA Cup semi-final trip to Wembley, manager Alan Pardew has said.
Palace's woeful run of 12 league games without a win, including eight losses, has seen them slide down the table from fifth to 15th, nine points above the relegation zone with nine games remaining.
Pardew's side, however, will be fancied to secure a place in the last four when they travel to second tier side Reading in an FA Cup quarter-final on Friday.
"It's an opportunity to say to our fans, particularly our home fans, 'yeah, we let you down a little bit recently, give them a nice day out at Wembley and see them focus on the semi-final'," Pardew told British media.
"And then worry about our league form next week, that's what I really want to do. I want to give the fans something to shout about. And I hope we can deliver a performance that warrants that."
(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by John O'Brien)