Jedinak hoping plan pays off

Jedinak hoping plan pays off

Published May. 26, 2013 3:15 p.m. ET

Crystal Palace skipper Mile Jedinak insists Monday's Championship play-off final against Watford is too close to call.

The Hornets will kick off at Wembley as favourites to secure promotion to the Barclays Premier League having finished five points above Palace and taken four points off them during the season.

But Palace were also big underdogs when they travelled to arch-rivals Brighton in the semi-final and triumphed 2-0, and Australia midfielder Jedinak believes they can pull off another surprise on the biggest stage.

"Both teams won their respective semi-finals in dramatic fashion and it's going to be evenly poised," he said.

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"If we're going in as underdogs then so be it, but in my mind it's 50-50.

"We've got a plan we will be working on and hopefully we can execute it the way we did at Brighton."

Wilfried Zaha's two goals sank the Seagulls and the winger will be playing his final game for Palace before completing a ?15million switch to Manchester United.

"Wilf has got all the plaudits and rightly so, he's had a great season and he had a great game against Brighton," added Jedinak.

"But he knows, as we all do, that we can only achieve what we want to achieve as a team and we're all pushing towards the same goal.

"There is a big wall in the way called Watford and we are expecting a very tough game, we are going to have to earn it on the day.

"We have some great characters in the dressing room and in the team, they've been a real joy to work with.

"The success we have shared so far has held this group together but we have a job on our hands to get to where we want to be."

Manager Ian Holloway is relieved the build-up to the game has centred around the match itself without any sub-plots.

Holloway was accused by some Palace fans of not understanding their rivalry with Brighton prior to the semi-final, which was marred by excrement being left in the Eagles' dressing room ahead of the second leg at the Amex Stadium.

The play-offs could also have thrown up meetings with Holloway's former club Leicester or a Bolton team managed by his predecessor at Palace, Dougie Freedman, who only missed out on a top-six spot on the final day of the season.

"It's not Leicester, who I failed with, it's not Bolton with the previous manager and it's not Brighton, who our fans couldn't stand it if we lost to them," said Holloway.

"It's Watford, they're pretty middle of the road really. We don't really hate each other or anything...do we?"

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