On a perfect day for the Eagles, the only moment where the game could have potentially turned against Palace came eight minutes after half-time.
After Ebere Eze was fouled inside the penalty area, Jean-Philippe Mateta was unable to hit the target with the resulting spot kick.
But as noted by Richards, the immediate reaction of the French forward summed up Palace's unwavering determination to reach a third FA Cup final in club history.
"It shows the character of the team," he told Palace TV. "You know, JP could easily put his head down, but I mean, instead you saw him make a tackle in our box.
"To do that as a number nine, especially after missing a penalty... again it shows the character of the team.
"It shows the togetherness of the team and that we all love each other. So, I think if we didn't love each other, you wouldn't see a tackle like that from our number nine in the box. It was an amazing game today."