Palace land crucial win over Huddersfield

Cape Town - A goal apiece from James Tomkins and Luka Milivojevic handed Crystal Palace a crucial 2-0 win over Huddersfield at the John Smith's Stadium on Saturday.

The visitors started the game well and Milivojevic had an early chance from a free-kick as the skipper managed to curl his effort over the wall but just wide of the target.

Palace were then dealt an early setback as Jeffrey Schlupp was forced off the field with an injury after 19 minutes and was replaced by the experienced Yohan Cabaye.

Roy Hodgson's side opened the scoring in the 23rd minute through Tomkins. Milivojevic delivered a good ball from a corner which was not dealt with by the defence and Tomkins was alert at the back post and managed to find the net with his second attempt after Jonas Lossl saved his initial one.

Immediately on the other end Milivojevic made a crucial block to prevent Collin Quaner from finding Alex Pritchard, who would have been one-on-one with Wayne Hennessey.

The Terriers slowly began to find their rhythm and began to dominate possession. Florent Hadergjonaj delivered a dangerous cross towards Steve Mounie, but the ball sailed over the head of the striker on its way out.

The second half brought an early penalty appeal for Palace as Christian Benteke was brought down by Mathias Jorgensen inside the box, but Mike Dean waved on play as Huddersfield breathed a sigh of relief.

Five minutes later, Tomkins was denied his brace by Mounie, who managed to clear the defender's shot off the line. The striker had a chance to grab one back for Huddersfield shortly after at the other end, but his powerful effort sailed wide.

Jorgensen then brought down Townsend in the area and this time Dean pointed to the spot. Milivojevic hammered home into the back of the net from 12 yards out.

As the game entered the last 15 minutes, Palace had two good chances as Benteke almost got on the end of James McArthur's header across and a few minutes later Cabaye forced a good save from Lossl.

Cabaye had another effort saved in the last few seconds as Palace completed an important win over the Terriers to move out of the relegation zone.