Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew heaped praise on Wilfried Zaha after the winger’s goal sealed a first Premier League win of the season.

Christian Benteke’s first goal in red and blue put the Eagles ahead at Middlesbrough on Saturday, only for Daniel Ayala to level matters before the break.

However, Zaha, who had been linked with a move to Tottenham Hotspur in the transfer window grabbed the winner soon after the break.

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The three-point haul lifted Palace to 11th in the table ahead of this weekend’s visit of Stoke City to Selhurst Park.

Pardew said: “The first 20 minutes were important for us that we built on the Bournemouth performance and we were terrific in that period, we deserved the lead.

"You can't control a whole Premier League game and we had to really hold on towards the end.

“If we do that for 38 games we'll go OK. We have some big players back at the ranch and hopefully we can get them fit.”

He added: "I thought Wilf was terrific and he deserved the assist and the goal. He showed qualities offensively and defensively."

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