April 5 2014

Jason Puncheon (Photo: Andy Roberts)

Crystal Palace raised their survival chances after a superb 3-0 win at lowly rivals Cardiff City.

In their second straight victory following last week's amazing triumph over leaders Chelsea, Palace move seven points above the drop.

Eagles stopper Julian Speroni made the first save of the game in an opening devoid of many clear chances, diving low to his left and pushing out Frazier Campbell's header on 24 minutes.

And just past the half-hour mark, Palace made the breakthrough. Former Cardiff man Joe Ledley fed Jason Puncheon in the box and he struck a low shot into the bottom corner through a sea of defenders' legs.

In the second half, Cardiff had claims for a penalty turned away by referee Phil Dowd after Mats Moller Daehli went down in the box with Kagisho Dikgacoi in close attendance.

Ledley then doubled Palace's lead on 71 minutes on the rebound from close range after Marouane Chamakh's header from a free-kick was pushed out by David Marshall.

And the points were safely in the bag two minutes from the end with a wonderful curling effort from Puncheon from outside the box.

Cardiff: Marshall, Theophile, Caulker, Turner, Taylor, Zaha (Noone 62), Mutch, Medel, Daehli (Bellamy 71), Campbell, Jones (Cowie 78).

Not used: Lewis, Eikrem, McNaughton, Cala.

Palace: Speroni, Mariappa, Dann, Delaney, Ward, Puncheon, Dikgacoi, Jedinak, Bolasie (Chamakh 64), Ledley (Parr 79), Jerome (Murray 83).

Not used: Hennessey, Gabbidon, Ince, Gayle.

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