Ipswich v Crystal Palace: IPSWICH Town manager Mick McCarthy believes that Aaron Cresswell may have scored the Championship goal-of-the-season in his side’s 3-0 win over Crystal Palace at Portman Road.

The left-back ripped a bouncing ball into the top corner from 25 yards out in first-half stoppage time, with two terrible defensive errors from the visitors gifting Frank Nouble his first goals for the club.

Asked if there have been any better goals scored this season, the Blues boss said: “If you’re just talking about the Championship, then it’s got every chance. It’s got to be a contender hasn’t it? It was a lovely strike.”

Victory lifted Town to 13th in the table and five points clear of the drop zone, with three games to play.

“As you’ll have noticed, I wasn’t dancing around with my knickers in the air at the end!” said McCarthy. “We’re in a far better position, but we’re not mathematically safe yet.

“We’ve still got three to play – including two difficult away games (against Sheffield Wednesday and Burnley) – so we’ve got to keep our focus and do our jobs properly.”

Speaking of two-goal scorer Nouble, who showed great desire to chase down the ball for both his goals, McCarthy said: “He wasn’t great for the first 20 minutes! But that could be said for all of them!

“He finished his goals really well. Even the first one he’s had to come back on his right foot when he could have snatched at it with his left. His second goal was a great finish. He’s run their back four all over the place. I thought he was excellent.

“I had some inside information with him because TC (assistant Terry Connor) had worked with him at Wolves. We fancied him because of his power and his pace. At twenty-five grand it wasn’t really a risk signing him (from Wolves) was it?”

Palace boss Ian Holloway – whose side have now gone six games without a win and five without a goal – said: “It all started fine. I thought we looked fantastic, we were moving the ball around well. Up until the goal I was more than happy.

“They were a bit nervous and edgy, but in a couple of minutes it’s all turned around.

“Will the kid (Aaron Cresswell) ever score a goal like that in his life again? Probably not. Will my goalie and my centre-back make mistakes like that again? Probably not. Talk about stuffing knocked out of you.

“Well done to Mick (McCarthy), well done to his team and well done to the crowd. Did we deserve that though? probably not.

“Normally the harder you work the luckier you get. I remember us getting three penalties in a row in the game at our place (5-0 win for Palace). Sometimes what goes around comes around.”

McCarthy added: “I’ve just met him (Holloway) in the corridor and he’s admitted that we didn’t deserve what we got at Selhurst Park.

“He knows his team has committed suicide really with the mistakes that they’ve made. Do you know what though? Frank’s got to chase it down both times and finish it off.

“We were awful for 20 minutes and couldn’t pass it to a blue shirt, but goals change games don’t they? We had to defend and when it got tough we stayed tough.”