Oliver Glasner has praised Chrisantus Uche and his Crystal Palace teammates, following a comfortable win at Shelbourne in the UEFA Conference League on Thursday.

Palace boosted their hopes of automatic progress to the Conference League knockout phase with a straightforward 3-0 win away to Shelbourne in Dublin.

Uche, Eddie Nketiah and Yeremy Pino all scored as Palace completely outclassed their hosts in the first half.

Palace were missing injured Jean-Philippe Mateta on Thursday but Uche seized his opportunity, clinically converting from Nketiah’s low cross to open the scoring.

The pair linked up well throughout the game, with Nketiah benefiting for Palace’s second when Uche saw a shot come back off the post.

The win lifts Palace up to ninth, meaning they are just one point off a coveted top-eight finish and need only a point at home to KuPS next Thursday in their final league-phase game to guarantee a play-off spot for the last 16.

Speaking after the win Glasner, quoted by Sky Sport, said:”Credit to the players for their attitude today. The pitch was not in the best condition, they’re playing against a team who want to show up and I think we played a very good game.

“First half, scored nice goals. We spoke at half-time to keep the pace high and we did, created many chances and unfortunately we missed a few and were unlucky with Romain Esse’s finish.

“Against a team who defends so deep, I think it was our best game. So many chances, scoring three goals, clean sheet – a very good night.”