CRYSTAL Palace manager Paul Hart has urged his players to hold their nerve from now until the end of the season after an important 3-1 victory over Preston lifted the Eagles out of the relegation zone.

Palace’s woeful recent home form looked set to continue after Keith Treacy put the visitors ahead in the eighth minute.

But goals from Neil Danns, Darren Ambrose and a first league strike by Calvin Andrew secured the comeback and boosted the Eagles’ survival chances.

However, Hart refused to get carried away despite the result.

He said: “Nothing hinges on one game but that was a massive game for us in terms of belief and confidence.

“We said we thought we would out of the bottom three if we won today and we have, so physiologically that is a massive boost for us.

“But we are not finished. We have to continue with this form and probably take it to the last game.

“I don’t think you can effectively plan not to, so we are prepared to dig in and fight. I keep telling the lads it is about who can keep their nerves in situations like this and there will be a lot of results and people may panic.”

Despite the caution for the remainder of the season, the Eagles chief had nothing but praise for Andrew.

The striker’s 84th minute strike calmed many of the nerves around Selhurst Park and Hart could not hide his delight at the Andrew’s tireless recent displays.

He added: “His performances in the last few matches whilst playing up front in his rightful position have been absolutely astonishing with his work rate, desire to get about the pitch, win headers and put people under pressure.

“He has done that to three sets of central defenders in those games and has been magnificent.”

Palace’s recent form has put them in a strong position to determine their own destiny come the end of the season and the manager once again urged his players to continue what they have been doing to reap the rewards he believes they deserve.

Hart said: “There have been three games on the bounce where we have performed extremely well and got rewards for our efforts.

“I think we have performed well in other games and not got our rewards but we have carried on trying to do the right thing with our preparation and concentrated on ourselves and just worked diligently to try and put things right.

“We all know in this division that because you win one game doesn’t mean you will walk all over people for the rest of the season.

“With these players we need to try and keep doing what we have been working on and try not to panic and just maintain belief.

“We know if we do certain things right, then we will get our rewards.”