Alan Pardew was full of praise for Crystal Palace striker Glenn Murray after he scored the opening goal in Monday night's 2-1 win over Manchester City.

The 31-year old fired home from close range as the Eagles shocked the reigning Premier League champions at Selhurst Park giving him his fifth goal of the season, all of which have come in the last five matches.

Murray was a standout performer for Palace in their promotion season in 2012/13 when netting 30 Championship goals after being a regular goalscorer for Brighton & Hove Albion in League One and Pardew is thrilled he is now reaping the rewards in England's top flight.

"In terms of a striker's performance, we knew the two centre-halves were aggressive so we said to Glenn, 'you may need to buy us fouls and win your headers, you're going to need to work hard come back to the point for us' and I thought he gave an exceptional performance," Pardew told Sky Sports.

"Forget about his goal - it was a real lesson of how to play the number nine.

"He's had a terrible time with injuries. He's a guy that should have been in the Premier League years ago, so I'm so pleased now for him that he's getting the reward for the quality that he has."

Murray, who has scored goals in all four levels of the Football League, only returned from a knee injury in February but has quickly hit form with goals against Arsenal, West Ham United (two), Stoke City and now Man City.