Crystal Palace moved up to 5th place in the Championship after an 81st minute penalty from Glen Murray was enough to hand Dougie Freedman's men all three points against a determined Bristol City on Tuesday night.

The game against the league's bottom club looked to be heading to a frustrating stalemate for Palace until substitute Jon Williams was played into the City box by Wilfried Zaha, drawing the foul from Lewin Nyatanga in the process.

Freedman thought that the awarding of the spot-kick was a fair reflection of the Eagles' overall superiority.

"I thought it was a game where we controlled most of the possession, had most of the chances, defensively were very solid and kept on at it," he said.

"Eventually we got a break with the penalty, took it well and then hung on in the last ten minutes. We created a lot of chances (in the first half), but we kept on being positive.

"I felt over the 90 minutes we were the team that deserved to win the game."

After a standout performance on the night, Zaha came in for some extra praise from the Palace boss.

"Wilfried's got a fantastic attitude to come into work every day, he's a pleasure to work with", said Freedman.

"You can only take the kids every day in training if they want to do it, but he does, that's the great thing about Wilfried.

"He works hard at his game, we're here as coaches to provide the environment for him, so all credits got to be given to him."

Palace travel to Portman Road on Saturday to face 6th place Ipswich, hoping to extend their four consecutive match unbeaten run, due in no small part to their miserly back-line.

Freedman added: "That (the defence) is what has given us that foundation to win games of football.

"I thought we looked very solid today and being a forward thinking player it gives you more confidence when you know your back six are nice and strong.

"It gives you confidence to try things you might not if you're one or two nil down.

"A lot of hard work goes into our defending and we're doing it very well right now."