Crystal Palace’s hat-trick hero says the Eagles are starting to believe in themselves.

Glenn Murray bagged a second-half triple to overturn a 2-0 deficit against Cardiff City in the Championship on Saturday, to extend the Eagles’ unbeaten run to four games.

And the 28-year-old, who has five goals from four league appearances, is convinced the Eagles are starting to soar because belief is returning to the camp.

The Eagles suffered a poor start to the Championship season, losing the first three games until Murray’s double sank Sheffield Wednesday.

Boss Dougie Freedman brought in fresh faces, including former Cardiff City defender Darcy Blake and Brazilian midfielder Andre Moritz, and the Eagles have not looked back since.

Murray said: “We were not necessarily playing badly at the beginning of the season – look at the Watford game, we lost that because of a couple of unfortunate goals. It was one of those things, but it goes down as a bad start.

“But now we are just believing in what we’re doing. Coming back against Cardiff shows that we believe in what the boss is trying to do and the fans are getting behind us too.”

Freedman described the comeback as the best he had had in his managerial career.

He said: “I don’t think we deserved to be two down at half time. To show the character and energy we did, it was a correct result.”

Ahead of the weekend trip to Bolton, Freedman particularly praised new boy Moritz, who was starting only his second game as an Eagle, saying the midfielder would only improve as the season went on.

He said: “He’ll be a big player for us, the way he holds the ball and the timing of his passes to the wingers is crucial. He’s only going to get better.”

Murray added: "We started well as a team against Cardiff – the opening 20 minutes we were the better team.

"But then they got the two goals in quick succession and knocked us out of our rhythm. We regrouped at half time and were by far the better in the second half, and so it proved."