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Ledley strike sinks Leicester

Cape Town - Joe Ledley's second-half winner left luckless Leicester City firmly rooted to the foot of the Premier League table as Crystal Palace continued their revival under Alan Pardew with a 1-0 victory at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.

In a lacklustre match with little to commend it to the uncommitted, Palace survived an early onslaught which saw David Nugent denied by the crossbar, to come away with all three points.

Ledley struck with a header from close range in the 56th minute after Brede Hangeland headed on a corner, to leave Leicester reflecting on what might have been had they taken their earlier chances.

The home side had by far the majority of possession but failed to convert the few chances they created and paid the price as Palace eased their own relegation worries to move into 13th place, six points above the drop zone.

Leicester are bottom, two points behind second-from-bottom QPR, who lost 1-0 in injury time to Southampton, but five points adrift of safety.

Palace, who have shown an impressive run of form since former player Pardew took over from the sacked Neil Warnock, had chances aplenty to increase their advantage, but Jason Puncheon in particular spurned more than one scoring opportunity.

In the closing stages, Leicester rallied and nine minutes from time were denied an equaliser when two chances went begging.

First, substitute Jamie Vardy's header across goal was saved low by Julian Speroni and Marc Albrighton shot wide from Esteban Cambiasso's free kick.

Leicster now enter a crucial period for their Premier League survival, with trips to Arsenal, Everton and Manchester City coming up in quick succession and that demanding schedule may well determine their fate, leaving manager Nigel Perason to rue the missed opportunities against Palace.

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