Crystal Palace earned three vital points in their bid to avoid relegation courtesy of a 2-0 away victory over fellow strugglers Huddersfield Town at the John Smith's Stadium in the Premier League this afternoon.
Goals from James Tomkins and Luka Milivojevic either side of half time proved to be the difference for an energetic Palace side, who now find themselves temporarily out of the relegation zone on 30 points with seven games remaining.
As for David Wagner's men, who failed to register a single shot on target before 80 minutes at home, the Terriers have some serious work to do in order to retain their top-flight status.
Palace started the encounter with impressive energy and they might have taken an early lead when Milivojevic bent his free kick just beyond Jonas Lossl's goal.
After a bright opening some slack concentration from Mamadou Sakho saw the centre-back pass straight to Steve Mounie, although the striker was soon thwarted by an excellent recovering tackle from the Palace defender before he could test Wayne Hennessey.
The Eagles appeared most threatening on the counter and Wilfried Zaha soon made inroads as he slipped in Christian Benteke, who saw his shot blocked on its way to goal by a retreating Christopher Schindler.
Palace enjoyed the better of the first half and they took the lead after 23 minutes through Tomkins, who profited from some questionable defending following a corner as he was able to beat Lossl from close range at the second attempt.
The opener seemed to spark a lacklustre Town into life and it was Collin Quaner who made good progress down the right wing, although his clever cut-back for Alex Pritchard was quashed following some standout defensive work from Milivojevic just inside his own box.
The players were greeted by snowfall in the second half and it was Palace who again offered more of a threat, Benteke going close to earning a penalty on the counter after being challenged by Mathias Jorgensen, only for referee Mike Dean to wave play on.
Tomkins should have had his second of the encounter not long after, only for the defender to see his shot cleared off the line by Mounie, following yet more poor defending from a corner.
Palace were set up perfectly to counter with a one-goal advantage. and they soon sprung the perfect breakaway through Andros Townsend, who was upended by a clumsy sliding tackle from Jorgensen to hand the Eagles a penalty.
Milivojevic stepped up to take the spot kick and he capped off an exceptional performance in midfield by sending Lossl the wrong way in order to push his side into a crucial two-goal lead in the 68th minute.
The snowfall became increasingly intense during the closing stages of the game in West Yorkshire, although Palace held on to close out a vital victory on the road that could prove to be the start of a route out of their current relegation woes.
As for Wagner's losing charges, Town face a real scrap to avoid the drop this term as they find themselves hovering just above the relegation zone without a league win in three matches.
HUDDERSFIELD (4-5-1): Lossl; Hadergjonaj, Jorgensen, Schindler, Malone (Lowe 46'); Hogg, Mooy, Quaner, Pritchard (Kachunga 71'), Ince (van La Parra 60'); Mounie
CRYSTAL PALACE (4-3-3): Hennessey; Wan-Bissaka, Tomkins, Sakho, van Aanholt; Milivojevic, McArthur, Schlupp (Cabaye 21'); Townsend, Zaha (Loftus-Cheek 89'), Benteke
Christopher Dodd
