Saturday 18th January 2014 16:54
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Tony Pulis masterminded a 1-0 victory over his former club Stoke as Crystal Palace moved out of the bottom three of the Premier League.
All the attention was on Pulis as he tries to guide his new side to safety, and with Stoke also languishing in the bottom half of the table, it was a very tense afternoon.
However, Jason Puncheon's strike early in the second half settled the home side down, and opened the game up somewhat.
But Palace held on, and the result sees the Eagles not only move off the foot of the table, but out of the relegation zone. Stoke slip to 13th.
In what was in truth a very poor first half, Julian Speroni was the busier of the goalkeepers, with a fine scrambling save from a Marc Wilson header the only time either side really went close to an opening goal.
However, Puncheon's excellently taken goal after poor defending from Stoke's Oussama Assaidi livened the game up just after the interval.
After his woeful penalty in last week's defeat at Tottenham, Puncheon's confidence needed a boost, and the 27-year-old, on-loan from Southampton, did really way to make room for the shot, before firing low into the bottom corner, through the legs of Ryan Shawcross.
The visitors were shocked into life, and several long range attempts from Charlie Adam came mightily close to getting them back on level terms.
A curling Peter Crouch effort also whistled past the upright, but Speroni remained relatively untroubled in the Palace goal.
The home side really should have made the three points much more comfortable, and but for a string of excellent saves from Jack Butland they would have done.
A stunning triple save in the dying moments thwarted the Eagles. Joel Ward's deflected first attempt was brilliantly kept out by the young keeper, before he get up to block twice more to keep his side in the game.
Another fine stop late on from a close-range Puncheon effort denied the Eagles once again, but Pulis' new side held on for a vital win, on what would have been an emotional day for the former Potters boss.
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