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Ian Holloway has thanked whoever left excrement in the away dressing room at Brighton's Amex Stadium ahead of their play-off semi-final second leg.

The Crystal Palace boss says it helped fire his players to victory and a place in the Championship play-off final.

"I didn't have to gee the players up at all, I had to calm them down," he said.

"It never ceases to amaze me how low some people go but how stupid is that person? I have to thank whoever it was as they got Palace to play like that."

Brighton have launched an internal investigation into how the incident was allowed to happen.

Palace and the Seagulls are bitter rivals, stretching back to the 1970s when Terry Venables and Alan Mullery were the clubs' respective managers.

"You have to act with dignity and I believe Brighton have," Holloway added.

"It must be difficult, with a stadium like that, to stop a complete lunatic trying to spoil what Brighton do - we all know what a good club Brighton are."