Aston Villa 0 Crystal Palace 1: Tony Pulis thrilled with battling win

Tony Pulis could not hide his delight after watching his Crystal Palace side move out of the Premier League relegation zone thanks to a battling win at Aston Villa.

Dwight Gayle fired home a stoppage-time winner after producing a moment of brilliance to hand the Eagles their third win in five games and lift them up to 17th place in the table.

And Pulis, whose side have won three of their six league games since he took over at Selhurst Park, was thrilled with his side’s spirit and desire.

It’s very, very important when you work at this level that the team knows what it’s doing

Tony Pulis

“We really we needed that result because we’d let ourselves down with the home performance against Newcastle last week so it was nice to bounce back,” Pulis told Sky Sports.

“I think we had the more clear-cut chances and the better opportunities and the ‘keeper’s made a wonderful save off [Barry] Bannan – how he touches that onto the post, I don’t know.

“But the lads kept going and, like I say, that’s what we need to do – week in, week out, we’ve got to give it everything and they’ve done that so far.”

Pulis added: “We’ve worked very, very hard on the shape of the team, on making sure that people are in certain positions at certain times and that everybody knows what they’re supposed to do.

“And from that, with the two wide players who’ve got so much pace and power, we then can cause teams problems.

“But it’s very, very important when you work at this level that the team knows what it’s doing.”