Antony Gardner put Crystal Palace on course for their first major Wembley final since 1990 with the only goal in Tuesday night's Carling Cup semi-final first leg against Cardiff.
Former Tottenham defender Gardner netted for the first time in more than a year to spark jubilant scenes at Selhurst Park and leave Palace fans dreaming of their first semi success in four attempts.
Kenny Miller had an equaliser controversially disallowed for Cardiff, who will nevertheless need to show more cutting edge in the Welsh capital in two weeks' time if they are to turn the tie around.
Having stunned Manchester United at Old Trafford in the previous round, Palace will be confident of finishing the job and ending the semi-final heartache that has seen them lose at this stage of the competition three times since famously reaching the FA Cup final 22 years ago.
Whatever the outcome, the npower Championship is guaranteed at least one representative against either Manchester City or Liverpool next month.
Matchwinner Gardner believes Palace are well positioned to reach the Carling Cup final.
The central defender said afterwards: "It was a good team performance. It was intense - you could see out there it was fiery game.
"Both teams came to win the game and it was a good cup tie.
"We'll get ready for the second leg now and hopefully we can go there and get a win.
"There's no reason why we can't. We are a very confident bunch of lads who have beaten some good teams along the way. We're looking to do the business there."
On his own breakthrough, a header following a Darren Ambrose free-kick, Gardner added on ESPN: "He is always going to put the ball on the money, his free-kicks are dangerous."
