Joel Ward has admitted that he is "really pleased" to have scored his first goal for Crystal Palace in their win over Queens Park Rangers this afternoon.

The defender added the third goal shortly before half time in the 3-1 victory over Chris Ramsey's side at Selhurst Park.

The 25-year-old, who joined Palace from Portsmouth in 2012, told the club's website: "It's a relief to finally get on the scoresheet for Palace so I'm really pleased with it. It's come onto my left foot and I thought 'if you don't shoot you don't score' and it's gone on target so I'm pleased.

"I think it was a professional performance from us, we knew how big an occasion it was and how big a gap it would put between us and the bottom three so it's a very good job from us. We stayed professional and everyone did their job to make sure we came out on top.

"Our home form has needed to improve and I think we did that today by picking up the three points. I think it gives us the momentum and confidence to build on that and move forward and start looking above us to catch those in front of us."

The win moved Palace up to 12th in the Premier League table.