Glenn Murray's penalty ten minutes from time secured a 1-0 win for Palace at home to Bristol City, but the night belonged to Wilf Zaha.

The 18-year-old forward dazzled with a Man of the Match display and gave City left-back Ryan McGivern - who was on loan at the Eagles earlier in the season - a torrid 90 minutes.

In what was a tight affair between Palace in 8th and rock bottom City entertaining football was in short supply, and it was left to Zaha to light the stage; the youngster bringing out all sorts of fancy footwork whenever he got on the ball.

All that was missing for the talented academy product was a goal, but it was team-mate Darren Ambrose who will be most disappointed that he didn't get on the scoresheet. The veteran midfielder missed a guilt edged chance from eight yards out after a Zaha cross and later on missed an open goal when City goalkeeper David James passed the ball straight to him, but the Eagles No.7 could only lob it over the bar from 20 yards out.

Zaha himself flashed  25-yard shot just wide early on and after the break was a better touch away from getting in on goal after good work by Murray.

Zaha continued to bamboozle McGivern but his crosses couldn't be converted, one just inches from a waiting Murray in the middle.

Eagles boss Dougie Freedmn chucked on Jonny Williams in a bid to win a game his side had dominated and the young star delivered, tumbling rather fortuitously under Lewis Nyatanga's challenge in the box, and Murray stuck away the resulting spot kick.

After the game, Freedman told reporters he believed it was the right result. "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."

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

"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."