MATT Turner enjoyed his “amazing” experience after keeping a clean sheet on his first appearance for Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park to help the Eagles edge past Stockport County 1-0 in the FA Cup third round.
Eberechi Eze scored the only goal in the fourth minutes against the League One side.
Turner, 30, also kept a clean sheet on his last appearance at the ground, a 0-0 draw when he was in goals for Nottingham Forest.
United States international Turner made a loan move to Palace last summer and has been back-up to Dean Henderson.
“It was amazing to be here, to see the crowd, feel the energy, feel so welcome as well,” Turner said. “It’s my second time at Selhurst.
“I played here last season, but I was on the away side. I much prefer being here and being on the home side.
“It’s such a historic tournament, something that we follow closely back in the States as well.
“I think that this next round, round four, would be my seventh-ever FA Cup game. That’s pretty good numbers having only been here [in the UK] for three years, so hopefully, hopefully many, many more [appearances].”
Turner produced a superb save to deny former Millwall striker Isaac Olaofe in the second half as Palace endured a nervous afternoon.
“I think that’s the most important thing, that we’re through to the next round,” Turner said.
“That was the main objective, I’d say. Obviously, coming out of the gate scoring early was a big, big moment for us and then we really controlled a lot of the game.
“I wish that we could have threatened their goal maybe a little bit more to get that second goal and really put the game away. But we didn’t, and we had to kill off another game at 1-0.”
“Learning to win is a habit. It’s good for us to go through these these types of moments, these types of games and and come out with a win.
“We understand that they play good football. They put a lot of balls in the box, they create tonnes of chances in League One. In the scouting report that was very, very clear.
“We had tremendous respect for them coming into the game and I think you saw that with how we approached the first half.
“For us, it’s about winning. So anybody, whoever’s on the pitch for us, and whoever we’re playing against, the goal is to win, and hopefully keep a clean sheet in the process.”
