Wilfried Zaha (right) celebrates his goal with Glenn Murray
And no wonder, as Pardew celebrated his eighth win in 13 games since taking charge.
In complete contrast to his Stoke counterpart Mark Hughes, who wasn’t happy about a first-half penalty awarded for Asmir Begovic’s challenge on Yannick Bolasie.
Glenn Murray blasted home the spot-kick and Zaha, who Pardew also thinks is a bit of a sulk, was laughing all over his face when he bagged the winner with a fabulous solo goal.
Pardew said: “The penalty was the turning point but it was a tough day for the officials. It was a tough, physical encounter. Real aggression in the right way and the referee had a couple of calls to make.”
Hughes, seething about the spot kick, said: “My take was it was a long ball kicked forward. The lad Bolasie got his foot up high above shoulder level. That’s what has taken the eyes of Asmir.
“The referee gave the penalty but my view is that it was a free-kick for dangerous play. Andre Marriner missed a lot of things today. Going in 2-1 we were left scratching our heads a little bit.”
Stoke took a 14th-minute lead when Charlie Adam’s free-kick squirmed through a flimsy Palace wall and Mame Diouf raced clear to poke into the bottom corner.
Palace equalised, though, with that penalty. Skipper Ryan Shawcross had his arms all over Bolasie outside the box before Begovic rushed in with a flying punch that made no contact with the Palace man.
And in added time Palace stormed into the lead, with Murray flicking on for Zaha to race clear for a wonderfully struck goal.
MAN of the MATCH: Charlie Adam – the midfielder ran the show from start to finish and did everything in his power to finish on the winning side.
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