Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce has described his side's 1-0 win over relegation rivals Middlesbrough as their biggest victory of the season.

Patrick van Aanholt scored the only goal of the game to lift Palace out of the bottom three, ending a five-match losing streak at Selhurst Park in the process.

Allardyce reserved special praise for the home fans after the match and challenged his side to show similar quality from now until the end of the season in order to secure Premier League survival.

"Selhurst Park was rocking today. It felt like they really enjoyed the commitment from the players and really got behind us. For me it was all about the quality in the first half we continued to pepper Middlesbrough's box with crosses and shots and it came to Patrick van Aanholt and he scored with his weaker foot," he told reporters.

"We need that sort of quality if we are going to stay up and he has proved himself with four goals this season now - three for Sunderland, one for us. It's the winning goal and there's never been a bigger win than this all season. It's a great victory. I think the two-week break helped us refocus and that showed - today they made a lot of very good decisions.

"The three points are important as it puts us in amongst the pack, out of the bottom three and a bit closer to Bournemouth. I see the bottom seven as the Premier League table we need to try and win. If we can achieve more then that would be great but we need to make next week's game against West Brom a game to win. The lads deserve to enjoy it and relax but we start again next week."

Palace, who now sit one point clear of the relegation zone, will take on West Bromwich Albion in their next outing.