Mile Jedinak knew the FA Cup final against Manchester United was not over despite Jason Puncheon firing Crystal Palace ahead.

Louis van Gaal’s side created numerous openings at Wembley last weekend and struck the woodwork twice but it was Palace who took the lead.

Second-half substitute Puncheon left David De Gea helpless with a 78th-minute strike, but United rallied to equalise just minutes later through Juan Mata.

When asked whether he thought it might be Palace’s day when Puncheon scored on the counter, Jedinak said: “No, because it’s my job to try and get people to start thinking straight again.

“Although it’s great and the euphoria of the goal is fantastic, my message was ‘five minutes’, which means let’s keep them out for the next five minutes.

“We were only able to hold out for three which is probably the biggest disappointment and something that is very hard to take.”

The Red Devils went down to 10 men in extra-time when Chris Smalling was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Yannick Bolasie.

But Palace could not take advantage of their numerical advantage and were condemned to defeat by Jesse Lingard’s late strike.

Jedinak said: “It’s not easy to take. It’s not the way you want to lose a game, it’s very hard to take because we left everything out on the pitch.

“But it is life, some games you win, some you don’t.

“It’s unfortunate we didn’t win because every single fan out there who sung their heart out, they deserved better.”

The 31-year-old Australian international added: “Man United are a good side after all and these things can happen.

“It is a shame it did and then the second goal knocks the stuffing out of you, we gave it a go but we fell a little bit short.”

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