Oliver Glasner declared Crystal Palace are on the right path after they finally broke their away duck with a 1-0 win at Ipswich.
Jean-Philippe Mateta struck in the second half with the only real piece of quality in a nervy encounter between two struggling teams.
It is now two wins and three draws from the last six matches for Glasner’s side, whose winter revival is gathering pace nicely following a sticky start to the campaign.
“I feel very happy, we’re all very pleased with the result, it was not the best performance but the result was more important,” said the Eagles boss.
“Most of the time we controlled the game and we scored an amazing goal, a fantastic finish from JP.
“We had more chances to decide the game but we couldn’t, but I think the win was well deserved.
“We didn’t give them any chances from open play and with a clean sheet you can always take the win.
“It’s a big win. Now it’s not time to sit back and relax but to keep going. In four days we face Manchester City. We stay humble. There are still many things to improve but we are on the right path.”
Ipswich looked the likelier to score as a low-key first half drew to a close and were denied by a point-blank save by Dean Henderson from Harry Clarke’s near-post header.
Shortly after the interval Wes Burns got clear down the right and lifted an inviting cross towards Liam Delap, whose header was straight at Henderson.
However, from out of nowhere Palace conjured up a lightning counter-attack to go ahead on the hour.
Eberechi Eze led the charge before feeding Mateta, who surged forward with a couple of stepovers before brushing off the attention of Jacob Greaves and finishing superbly past Arijanet Muric.
It was the French forward’s sixth goal of the season, and his first away from Selhurst Park.
Back came Ipswich with Leif Davis fizzing in another cross for Delap, who somehow mistimed his jump and completely missed the ball from six yards.
As time ticked down Greaves looped a header against the far post, with the rebound just eluding substitute Ali-Al Hamadi.
“Frustrating night,” said Town boss Kieran McKenna.
“It was a tight first half, we weren’t fantastic in terms of the flow of the game and didn’t create as many opportunities as we wanted. But having said that neither did our opponents.
“In the second half we conceded a really poor goal and that proved decisive. We can do better than we did tonight.”
