Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew says his side could have scored more as they beat Sunderland 4-1 at the Stadium of Light Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew says his side could have scored more as they beat Sunderland 4-1 at the Stadium of Light

Alan Pardew says Crystal Palace played like Brazil and should have won by more after their 4-1 thrashing of Sunderland.

Three goals in five minutes at the start of the second half all but secured the three points for the Eagles before Yannick Bolasie added his third and Palace’s fourth just after the hour.

The result was beyond doubt at that point and the result could have been even more embarrassing for Sunderland had the visitors taken their chances on the break.

“Everything went well today and our fans singing ‘it’s just like watching Brazil’ – it was at times,” said Pardew. “We were really, really great second half.

“It is a marvellous win, emphatic really and the scoreline doesn’t do it justice if I’m honest. We had so many chances second half, Bolasie was frightening all day and he deserved his hat-trick.

“I’m so pleased for him because he hasn’t scored that many goals, it’s an area we need to improve with him but he was terrific today.”

It is a marvellous win, emphatic really and the scoreline doesn’t do it justice if I’m honest. Alan Pardew

The four goals in such quick succession came after a fairly evenly matched first half in which Palace showed glimpses of what they were capable of without creating any clear cut chances and Pardew argued his side simply failed to make the most of certain situations in the way they managed after the break.

“We just didn’t exploit what we should have been doing in the first half,” he explained. “We had some situations we should have done better in.”

It was a different story second half as Palace blew Sunderland out of the water within eight minutes of the restart.

"The whole team was terrific today," added Pardew. "We’ve come away, we’ve got four, we haven’t got a clean sheet and really and truly the scoreline should be different really but we were great.

"I think that’s seven away wins out of eight, it’s amazing really. We’ve just got a real confidence about us.

"We did all sides of the game really well today. We went long when we needed to, we played short, we played through the lines, we got crosses in and we were a threat at set plays."