Patrick Vieira warned Crystal Palace they will have to improve if they want to reach Wembley after they were made to work hard to beat Stoke 2-1 in the FA Cup fifth round.
Jairo Riedewald struck the winner with eight minutes left at a rain-soaked Selhurst Park after Stoke’s Josh Tymon had cancelled out Cheikhou Kouyate’s 53rd-minute opener.
The Eagles struggled to hit top gear throughout against the Championship outfit and needed Joachim Andersen to head Liam Moore’s chip off the line before super-sub Riedewald struck minutes later.
It means Palace are through to the last eight of the competition and now only one victory away from an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.
Vieira, who won the competition five times as a player, said: “It is a really exciting period and moment I would say but it is still one step before Wembley.
“We are pleased and happy to go to the next round but I was really disappointed with the way we played.
“We didn’t play well, we didn’t use the ball well enough or create enough chances and we didn’t defend well as a team. If we want to go further, we will have to play better.”
With Palace needing a goal, Vieira made the surprise decision to turn to Riedewald over recognised forwards Christian Benteke and Odsonne Edouard, while playmaker Ebere Eze also remained as an unused substitute in SE25.
The former Ajax player made the decision pay off when he controlled Jack Bonham’s punch clear in the 82nd minute and rifled home with his right foot to score his first goal in 13 months in only his fifth appearance of the season.
“It has been tough and really difficult. It is not easy for a player to not be in the group or squad but he has been a real professional,” Vieira said of Riedewald.
“He has always been keeping his head up, working hard and waiting for his chances. Today he came on and when the team needed him to score and perform with that energy, he did it really well.
“This is the kind of example I want from all the players because we have a squad where anybody can play, so what I want is for them to make it really difficult for me to choose the starting XI.
“Jairo, this is what he has been doing and today he has been rewarded by the hard work he has been doing and his patience.”
Stoke boss Michael O’Neill saw their best FA Cup run in 10 years end with a loss that wasn’t totally deserved and he bemoaned the decision to award a corner in the build-up to Kouyate’s opener after referee Robert Jones deemed Jordan Ayew’s shot to have taken a deflection off James Chester.
He added: “I thought the result was harsh on us, the nature of the goals were harsh on us and the first goal is not a corner, so the officials got that one wrong.
“It is ironic that VAR decides a lot of things but the basics of whether it is a goal kick or corner is left down to human error.
“Unfortunately in our eyes that was a human error. Clearly there was no contact with the shot with James Chester and we end up losing a goal as a result.”
