DEAN Moxey has praised Jason Puncheon’s character after the winger put his penalty miss against Tottenham behind him by scoring the winner against Stoke on Saturday.

Puncheon’s howler at White Hart Lane had been the talk of the nation all week but the on-loan Southampton player delivered the perfect response to the criticism by firing in the winner against the Potters which propelled Palace out of the drop zone.

Eagles defender Moxey said: “There was a lot of banter flying around this week, as there should be, but he’s a good lad and he has taken it well.

“He will admit it was a bad penalty but he has let that go and scored us the winner today.”

It was an extremely hard-fought victory for Palace who climbed up to 16th in the Premier League table, just two points behind the Potters.

But Moxey expected nothing less from a side which still retains plenty of characteristics installed by Palace boss Tony Pulis from his successful spell at the Britannia.

He said: “The pitch is very heavy at the moment, so it wasn’t going to be pretty, but it’s a win and that’s all we want.

“The first half was pretty scrappy but then we got the goal and it got a bit scrappier because Stoke are battlers like us as they have the DNA from Tony, so it was always going to be the biggest fight of the season.”

And it is this fighting spirit which Moxey believes will give Palace the edge in the battle to stay in the Premier League this season.

He added: “It’s going to be tight but we knew it was going to be when we first came into the league.

“It’s going to be a scrap until the end of the season but we’ve got a great bunch of lads here who are relishing the fight.”

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