The blast of referee Anthony Taylor’s whistle was still echoing around a rain-sodden Selhurst Park when David Unsworth ushered his players in the direction of the travelling Evertonians.
Unsworth, of course, would have wanted his men to acknowledge the terrific support they received from start to finish of an undulating contest on Saturday.
He would have known, though, that those fans, crammed into their pocket of this traditional, pulsing old ground, would afford their team a rousing ovation.
“The battle, desire and commitment were there, everything you would want and know you would get from an Everton player,” Unsworth told evertontv, with a hush now descended over the formerly throbbing stadium, bar the sound of Crystal Palace’s unused substitutes being subjected to a succession of running drills on the pitch behind him.