Pardew praises ´dream-like´ Newcastle victory

Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew hailed his side’s performance in a “dream-like” 3-0 win at Crystal Palace.

Pardew’s men cemented their place in the Premier League’s top six with an excellent performance, cruising past a Palace side who had won their last two at home.

Yohan Cabaye gave Newcastle the lead midway through the first half with a goal on his return from suspension, before Daniel Gabbidon’s own goal doubled the visitors’ advantage.

Hatem Ben Arfa’s late penalty made sure of the points, and Pardew – who spent four years with Palace as a player – was quick to praise his players for securing Newcastle’s fifth straight league win at Selhurst Park.

“As an ex-player to come back here and have a team play as well as that, it was almost dream-like,” Pardew said.

“I’m absolutely delighted with my players; we were terrific.

“The key was to control possession and make sure the ball didn’t come in our box. The best way is to do that is to keep it. Sometimes it’s not easy on a pitch (like that), but we did it very well.”

Pardew highlighted the contribution of Cabaye and Newcastle’s strong team spirit.

“(Yohan) Cabaye made a difference. His contribution was important – he gave us the X-Factor,” Pardew added.

“Hatem (Ben Arfa) gave us that. (Fabricio) Coloccini and (Mathieu) Debuchy were immense as was (Cheick) Tiote.

“I don’t put Cabaye above the others. We’ve got a good spirit, a real good hard-working attitude, (and) we score goals in open play. The only thing you could say against us is that we could do a little better on set-pieces.”