Dougie Freedman was full of praise for his patched-up squad after Crystal Palace put one foot in the Carling Cup final last night.

Anthony Gardner’s first-half header gave the Eagles a 1-0 win over Cardiff City at Selhurst Park to give them a narrow advantage going into the second leg in Wales in two weeks time.

Gardner, along with Paddy McCarthy, Julian Speroni, Sean Scannell, Nathaniel Clyne and Mile Jedinak, had been a major doubt before the game following a virus that had spread through the Eagles camp.

But only Clyne didn’t make the final squad and Freedman was delighted with the effort of his players.

“It was not bad for a team that was very unlucky in its preparation,” he said.

“We had to patch up a couple of players and get them out there, Jedinak and McCarthy were real heroes, they were on their sick beds not long ago.

“At 5pm, I looked them in the eye and asked if they were prepared to put their bodies on the line for the club and the answer was a convincing yes.

“It was such a big game I had to take that risk and of course we will be stronger for the second leg.

“We will come back fitter and I can prepare better than I did for last night.

“We would have liked more goals but I would have taken anything going to Cardiff and we got a vital clean sheet which was important.

“It will be tough for us there but I feel we have enough in our locker to keep a clean sheet there.”

Cardiff started the game the stronger and ended it the better but the Eagles were resolute in defence, restricting the Bluebirds to a handful of chances.

They were indebted to referee Mike Dean though for disallowing Kenny Miller’s header for a push on Julian Speroni only he saw.

“Full credit to the players for answering the question that Cardiff were asking, we showed we had real character,” added Freedman, whose side host Leeds United on Saturday.

“Last night was all about character, it wasn’t pretty but who says football always has to be pretty?

“It was about determination and we showed a lot of character to keep that clean sheet we deserved, we defended very well.

“I look for my defenders to defend and Anthony Gardner deserves a pack on the back for his defending.

“The way he and Paddy McCarthy defended tonight allows the Wilfried Zaha and Glenn Murray to get the headlines so I look at Anthony’s performance and I felt he was solid as a rock and that is why he gets my man of the match, not for this goal.”