Brendan Rodgers: 'Victory over Crystal Palace was well deserved'

Brendan Rodgers has praised his Liverpool players for showing the mental strength required to see off Crystal Palace in their FA Cup fifth-round tie.

Selhurst Park has proved an unhappy hunting ground for the Reds over the past 12 months. They have suffered two crushing Premier League defeats there, with a 3-1 reverse earlier this campaign sending them to a fourth successive loss.

However, Liverpool will have happier memories of their latest visit to South London thanks to second-half goals from Daniel Sturridge and Adam Lallana, which helped them to come from behind to edge past their opponents 2-1 this evening.

"It wasn't a good feeling the last time we were here in terms of our performance level," Rodgers is quoted as saying by BBC Sport. "That was a real adverse moment for us and from that the team has got better.

"It was a really good win against a tough team today, but I thought we deserved the win. We started slowly but once we scored we took control. There's a great resilience and the team are functioning really well."

Liverpool now turn their attention to Europa League commitments, with Besiktas the visitors to Anfield on Thursday.