Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson praised matchwinner Gary Cahill after victory over Newcastle United.

Hodgson may have become accustomed to leading competent performances in red and blue, but he witnessed a Cahill goal in those colours for the first time on Tuesday evening.

After hearing Cahill's winning header against the Magpies made him the Eagles' oldest Premier League goalscorer, Hodgson said: "It doesn't make a difference if he's 35, 25 or 15. The important thing is he did the job.

"It was good work down the right-hand side to get the free-kick, I think it was Jordan [Ayew] who provoked the foul. It was an excellent ball in from Eberechi Eze – a real quality cross from that position. Gary lost his marker, threw his head at the ball and scored. I'm really pleased for him, pleased for the team of course."

Turning his attention to the performance as a whole, Hodgson gave his views on a well-earned victory:

"We were very pleased," he said. "It was never going to be an easy game. We got up well, played some good football and were deservedly leading at half-time.

"I thought we passed the ball well in the first-half – the control we had of the ball in midfield, the way the full-backs were getting forward and taking advantage of the fact there was some space out there.

"The second-half was more close but that was because they [Newcastle] had the ball much more and were playing the ball forward into our backline much more often. The first-half was a good half from both teams, as was the quality of football."