Neil Warnock got an extra Christmas present in the form of three points after his Eagles side came from behind to beat Roy Keane's Ipswich side.

Jaime Peters gave the visitors the lead in the early stages of the encounter but Jose Fonte crashed in a volley on the brink of half-time to make the score 1-1. Minutes later Jon Stead was shown the red card for a tackle on Freddie Sears, a tackle that Warnock felt did not warrant a dismissal.

"I did not think it was a red. I expected it to be a red but I did not think it was worthy of one. You could see he was disappointed on missing out on the challenge before against Claude Davis. He went in with one foot studs showing but he did not go over the ball. I expected it to be a red as I know the referee Paul Taylor and expected it to be a red."

Even before the sending off Warnock felt his side were the better team and praised the spirit of his players for ploughing on against the Tractor boys.

"I thought we had a lot of opportunities to score, even before they were reduced to 10 men. They had the busiest keeper but the goal gave them confidence. However, we have got a genuine bunch of players and I thought the fans were fantastic. "

Neil Danns and Victor Moses both grabbed second half goals to seal the win at Selhurst and banish an unwanted record of not winning a game once going behind this season.

"In my eyes it was a typical Boxing Day game and it was the first time we have come from behind to win. We were close to winning against Barnsley and we try and give teams a goal start if we can !."

On Monday the Eagles will take on Swansea in a game that could see Lee Hills return to the side after Davis picked up his fifth yellow of the season

"Claude will be suspended for Monday and miss out on a long trip to Wales and Lee Hills is a good lad and he will come in for that match.

"Swansea have been interested in him and will allow him to put himself in the shop window and getting three points today was the ideal preparation ahead of that visit."