Pardew thrilled with Palace progress

Alan Pardew has claimed his Crystal Palace side is the best the club have had since the early 1990s after watching them beat West Brom 2-0 in the Premier League on Saturday.

A Yannick Bolasie header and a late Yohan Cabaye penalty proved enough to see off the visitors at Selhurst Park, leaving former Newcastle boss Pardew delighted with the club's progress, believing they are going through a golden period in their history.

Asked if this was the best Palace side for 25 years, he told the BBC: "For sure, without a doubt. The chairman needs to take a great deal of credit for that. I'm at the end of a three- or four-year scenario and it's been great for me to put the cream on the top of this particular trifle. We have some nice cream."

Pardew felt the win was well deserved and reserved praise for the two goalscorers.

"We were very good from the off. We controlled the first half and West Brom had to do a lot of work to keep us at bay. That paid dividends in the second half as we made the breakthrough," he added.

"The centre of the pitch was important and Cabaye organised the game as he always does and our wide players made the difference."

On Bolasie, who ended a run of 46 home games without a goal, he said: "I said to him he needed to get in the box more. It was a great ball [from Cabaye] and he had to be brave, he was and he got his reward. It was nothing more than we deserved. We were asking questions all day and as the home team that's what you need to do."