March 8 2011

Selhurst Park

Crystal Palace secured a boost in their battle to stay up with a 1-0 success at home to Cardiff.

Midfielder Kagisho Dikgacoi scored the only goal of the game late on after Peter Whittingham had missed a penalty for the Bluebirds.

Palace began the match strongly with James Vaughan heading at Stephen Bywater before the goalie kept out Vaughan's shot with a save turned around the post.

Vaughan had another header off target, while Jay Emmanuel-Thomas's strike was easily held by Palace stopper Julian Speroni.

Neil Danns wasted Palace's best opportunity with a shot wide of the goal as the Eagles ended the half as the better side.

After the break, Speroni made an excellent block to keep out Emmanuel-Thomas's drive, Kevin McNaughton fired just wide of the upright and Stephen McPhail had his effort palmed over by Speroni as the Welsh side looked most likely to break the deadlock.

Dekel Keinan nodded a Craig Bellamy corner over the bar and Cardiff were handed a lifeline when they were awarded a penalty in the 69th minute after David Wright handled in the box. Luckily for the Eagles Whittingham missed the spot kick.

Then eight minutes from time, Dikgacoi was fed into the area by Pablo Counago and the ball got caught under his feet and diverted into the back of the net for a bizarre goal as Palace claimed a vital three points.

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