“Who cares about the FA Cup anyway? It’s a Mickey Mouse competition that’s lost it’s magic and doesn’t mean anything anymore,” I say as I fake a smile and try to convince myself that everything is okay.

“European tour? Nope, not interested mate.”

Like most Palace fans, I’m completely in denial right now and am stubbornly saying anything to try and make myself feel better.

Obviously I’m gutted and winning the FA Cup would’ve been an absolute dream come true.

It was always going to be a special day regardless of the result; it’s just frustrating that things didn’t go our way.

I didn’t feel too nervous on the train up to Wembley, as I turned to my dad and told him I just didn’t feel the same as I did before our last cup final.

He quickly reminded me that I didn’t exist in 1990 and that I should probably slow down my drinking.

It’s the hope that kills you and losing in extra-time made the defeat even more difficult to take, as we were genuinely in with a chance the whole game.

It didn’t help that once again Mark Clattenburg was completely incompetent and we should take pride in the fact that it took a quality goal to separate the sides.

The scenes when Puncheon’s opener flew in ten minutes before time border on indescribable.

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There were limbs absolutely everywhere. Grown men were crying and young children were flying.

There was a real belief and togetherness that we might actually be able to do it.

The spirit and atmosphere the fans created throughout the game was unparalleled and unlike anything 95% of Manchester United ‘fans’ have ever, or will ever experience, especially not from the comfort of their living room with one eye on their TV and the other on their phone, tweeting ‘#LVGOut’ and googling ‘Who is Jesse Lingard?’

It was a sad day but we’ll learn from it and bounce back stronger than ever next season.

Who knows how Man United will fare after the summer, having shown a complete lack of class by not even allowing Louis van Gaal a night of celebrations before it became common knowledge that he was going to be sacked.

It was assumed by most that a cup win would save his job, but even that wasn’t enough.

It’s like when you’re a kid and your mum says you can only play FIFA if you do your homework and tidy your room.

So you do exactly what she tells you to do, but instead of letting you play, she gives the PlayStation to charity and puts you up for adoption.

By no means did we play badly, but we once again showed that once the opposition goes down to ten men we are completely ineffective in breaking them down and capitalising on our advantage, whilst our fitness is still atrocious.

There’s a lot that could be discussed about what went wrong tactically, both at Wembley and for the past few months, but it’s the end of the season and I’m sure both Alan Pardew and Steve Parish know exactly what needs to happen in the transfer market and on the training ground in order to avoid a repeat of that terrible run of form.

It’s been a strange season and one that would have been considered one of our best ever had the league form been in reverse.

It’s been a stressful period, but when is it ever easy supporting Palace?

The most important thing is that we’ve got a few months to fix any issues, we’re still in the Premier League to receive the increased TV money, and Brighton bottled it in the play offs. Again.

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