WANDERERS bowed bravely out of the FA Cup at Selhurst Park as £32million man Christian Benteke performed a second-half rescue act.

Trailing to James Henry’s 48th-minute strike, Big Sam pressed the panic button by introducing three of his big names off the bench.

Benteke struck twice in nine minutes to sweep the Whites’ hopes of a cup upset from under their feet, not to mention a lucrative fourth-round home tie with Manchester City.

Wanderers had worked hard to stay in the game under intense first-half pressure but played their best football after the restart and were rewarded with Henry’s goal.

They fully deserved the applause from travelling fans at the final whistle – but one wonders what their cup exertions have now taken out of them with another long weekend trip to Southend in League One to come.

A strange one-sided war of words had developed prior to the game, with Sam Allardyce seemingly picking a fight that wasn’t there.

After delivering a backhanded insult by saying his players would be ‘League One standard’ if they lost to Bolton – the kind of thing he would have pinned to the dressing room wall had Arsene Wenger or Rafa Benitez come out with it back in the day – he then took to the programme to have another pop at the size of the Macron crowd last week.

Highlighting the ‘sad plight’ of his former club and the 11,000 gate that greeted his arrival at the Macron a fortnight earlier, he might have consulted his own ticket office before throwing stones. A crowd of 7,149 is hardly anything to brag about.

Wanderers had to absorb plenty of pressure in the first half but their luck just about held out.

Joe Ledley did have the ball in the net at one stage, only for referee Stuart Attwell to rule it out for deliberate handball and issue the Wales international with a caution.

The lively Sullay Kaikai also curled a free kick millimetres wide of the post with Ben Alnwick a mere spectator.

Wanderers battled hard, spending long spells out of possession.

Josh Vela swerved one fine effort just wide and David Wheater hooked a volley over the bar but for the majority the Whites were camped in their own half, working hard to defend.

Phil Parkinson’s side have proved adept at doing that when they had to in League One but to ask them to cope with another 45 minutes of such pressure against a top-flight side, who could bring on big names like Benteke or Yohan Cabaye from the bench was always going to be a big ask. Unless they could find something to hang on to, that is.

And within three minutes of the restart they had just that.

Spearing’s free kick was cleared to the edge of the area where Henry turned and looped a cross-shot back over Julian Speroni’s head, the ball nestling perfectly inside the post.

Wanderers’ throng of nearly 1,000 fans, arranged in a perfect cube in the Arthur Wait Stand, went into instant raptures.

Henry ran in celebration to the opposite touchline from the dugout, falling theatrically as his team-mates piled on top of him.

Allardyce was prompted into a triple substitution, bringing off three players in Ledley, Damian Delaney and Loic Remy who are presumably now League One standard.

Within seconds, Gary Madine came inches away from making it two as he threw himself at Andy Taylor’s cross from the left.

Moments later Palace dragged themselves level. Matthieu Flamini found space to stand a cross up from the right and Benteke rose high above Wheater to head the ball powerfully past Alnwick.

The prospect of extra time appealed to no one, all except maybe Southend United boss Phil Brown, working as a summariser for BBC Radio Manchester and licking his lips at the prospect of facing a jaded Wanderers side at Roots Hall on Saturday.

But Benteke was not finished. After Andros Townsend stripped Lawrie Wilson down the left, his cross was half-controlled by the big Belgian striker, then smashed in one fluid motion through the crowd past Alnwick.

It was harsh on Wanderers that the game should be taken so quickly from their grasp but they did have chances to score a second themselves.

Zach Clough bundled one Wilson cross wide from close range and then had another effort pushed wide of the post by Speroni.

In the end, another goal was a step too far.

Wanderers are left to concentrate on the league, and perhaps that is best for all concerned.