Oliver Glasner said Crystal Palace were the better side and fully deserved their 1-0 win at Ipswich on Tuesday evening.
Eberechi Eze should have given Palace the lead with the best chance of the first half in the 37th minute.
The Greenwich-born attacker was played through by Jean-Philippe Mateta, but Eze, on his weaker left foot, could only fire his one-on-one effort into the path of Arijanet Muric.
Dean Henderson was called into action just before half-time to stop Ipswich from taking the lead, denying Harry Clarke’s header at the near post from a corner.
Palace took the lead in the 59th minute when Jean-Philippe Mateta burst towards goal and brushed aside Jacob Greeves to chip Muric with his left foot to open the scoring.
Ipswich’s best chance to snatch a point came in the 85th minute when Greaves headed a free-kick back across goal. However, substitute Nathan Broadhead was unable to turn home and the ball hit the post to bounce away from Henderson’s goal.
The South Londoners not only secured their first away win of the Premier League campaign – their second win of the season – they also moved three points clear off the bottom three.
“I feel very happy and pleased,” said Glasner.
“Today was maybe not our best performance, but today the result was more important than the performance.
“Most of the time we controlled the game. We did really well in the first half.
“We scored an amazing goal – it was a fantastic finish from JP. This is what we can do better and have to improve.
“We had momentum on our side and had two more big chances to decide the game, but we didn’t.
“In an away game at Ipswich, we knew that anything could happen. We were lucky in one situation – we needed the post.
“The win was well-deserved overall. We didn’t give them any chances from open play. When you have a clean sheet, one goal is enough.
“Today, we were the better team. The result is how the game went today. It’s very important – it’s a big win.
“It’s two teams playing against each other with the same amount of points – it’s always a big game.
“It was important to win, but we’re not satisfied.”
PICTURE: ALAMY
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