“Huge” – Crystal Palace’s Jordan Ayew talks about his matchwinning goal to send Brighton to defeat

BY ANDREW McSTEEN

With his seventh strike of the season, Crystal Palace striker Jordan Ayew secured all three points for the Eagles away at Brighton in the early kick-off today.

The 70th-minute finish ensured a 1-0 victory which put his side up to 12th in the Premier League, on 36 points, ahead of the remaining Premier League fixtures this weekend.

“It’s a huge goal because we wanted to win this game to get up 36 points which means we are not far from our [overall] target,” said the Ghana striker to BT Sport after the match.

“You have to congratulate the boys because Brighton gave us a good test but, overall, we deserved the win.”

In blustery conditions, Palace rode their luck at times, but in a match which Eagles’ captain Gary Cahill called “ugly”, Roy Hodgson’s men prevailed with Ayew on the end of a Christian Benteke pass, as the Belgian striker slotted his team-mate in, who finished coolly.

“We (Ayew and Benteke) worked hard for the team – we are team players,” said Ayew. “At the moment things are going our way, in our favour, and the strikers are doing a good job.

“We just need to keep doing what we’re doing and hopefully we will get a lot more goals before the end of the season.”

PICTURE BY KEITH GILLARD