Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson refused to criticise Huddersfield Town's style of play after accusations of over-zealousness by the Terriers during the John Smith's Stadium clash.
Goals from James Tomkins and Luka Milivojevic in either half secured the Eagles their first victory in over two months to move the side out of the relegation zone.
However the win was tarnished by key players Wilfried Zaha and Jeffrey Schlupp being forced off the field with knocks after robust tackles.
And although Aaron Mooy, Jonathan Hogg and Christopher Schindler were all cautioned for challenges on Zaha, some felt more went unpunished.
However, Hodgson refused to be drawn into the debate on the performance of either referee Mike Dean or Huddersfield Town after the game.
“I am not going to go down that route (criticising Dean),” Roy Hodgson said. “The referee gave him the protection he could give by giving fouls and yellow cards.
“We made some pretty robust challenges too, so I won’t be whining about that.
“One always hopes players like Wilf will get the fouls they merit and those who do foul will get yellow cards if they do that to discourage them.
“Zaha took quite a few kicks and of course he carries the ball.
“On a couple of occasions he was stopped by a foul and there is an element of fatigue in his first full game in a long time out. There is no indication over a serious injury.
“Jeffrey Schlupp has rolled his ankle and you always worry about ligament damage.”
Instead, the former England manager was keen to stress the importance of claiming all three points over a relegation rival which not only moves Palace up to 16th but puts pressure on those around them.
“The most important thing for us was to come away from Huddersfield with a result, ideally a win but certainly not a defeat, to keep our hopes of staying in the division alive,” Hodgson said.
“Had we not done that then the gap to teams like Huddersfield gets greater and greater.
“It was important because we are playing teams around us at the bottom of the table and every time you get points, you improve your score and of course, take away from theirs.
“It was very encouraging to come to a place like Huddersfield where everyone knows how hard it is to win and go away with the three points.
“I hope that is going to give us some type of boost and confidence for the future."
