Ivory Coast international Wilfried Zaha believes Eberechi Eze's goal for Crystal Palace against Southampton in Saturday's 2-1 win at St Mary's Stadium was a reward for his hard work.
The Nigeria prospect brought the clubs to level terms after Oriol Romeu had given the hosts a lead before Zaha scored a late winner to ensure the visitors grabbed maximum points.
In a post-match interview, Zaha has explained why he was delighted to see the attacking midfielder get on the score sheet.
"It felt like scoring, really. I know how talented he is, I know how hard he works. That goal was the icing on the cake, so I’m happy for him," the former Manchester United attacker said as quoted by the Crystal palace website.
"It’s a credit to him because when you’re injured randomly like that - because it happened out of the blue - it’s tough mentally. I see him every day, he has his own program he works on to get himself back to where he is. That’s why seeing him score that goal today, I was very happy for him."
The 29-year-old could not hide his satisfaction regarding the way the team played and ensuring they went home with all the three points.
"[The win] felt good. Obviously, we worked hard today. We made it a bit difficult for ourselves but I’m glad we managed to get the three points," Zaha continued.
"I think you just have to have that about you. Obviously, the team we have, we have to remember this is the first season of some players playing together. Things aren’t going to [always] work out, but today showed we have the character in the team to overcome some obstacles."
Zaha also commented on coach Patrick Vieira's decision to start him on the bench and his attitude after getting a chance to come on.
"He makes the choices; obviously I’m just spurring on the players. Today it was for me to come on and do what I can and I worked hard..."