Crystal Palace climbed out of the bottom three as they defeated Swansea 2-0 at Selhurst Park.
Watson and Carle strike in 2-0 victory
Crystal Palace climbed out of the bottom three as they defeated Swansea 2-0 at Selhurst Park.
Ben Watson put the Eagles in front on 28 minutes with a delightful free-kick but Swansea played their part in a lively first half.
The visitors kept pressing for an equaliser after the break before Nick Carle slammed a powerful shot past Dorus De Vries in the 66th minute to secure Palace's first league win of the season.
Swansea had flown out of the blocks with Leon Britton and Ferrie Bodde working well to play in Jason Scotland who sent a tame shot into the grateful arms of Julian Speroni.
However, Palace quickly found their rhythm and Swansea keeper De Vries did well to parry Paul Ifill's shot before punching away the resulting corner.
Palace continued to push forward with Clint Hill firing over but the Eagles were then dealt a blow when John Oster was forced off with an injury and replaced by youngster Kieran Djilali.
Ifill saw another shot saved by De Vries before their cause was hampered by another enforced change with James Scowcroft limping off.
Their misery was temporary as Watson curled in the resulting free-kick. The ball came through a host of bodies before nestling in the bottom right-hand corner to give the Eagles their first home league goal of the season.
Palace immediately went in search of a second and Shaun Derry's long-range effort was beaten out by De Vries.
In first-half stoppage time Swansea almost grabbed an equaliser, but Speroni managed to get his body in front of Scotland's shot.
Alert
Swansea pressed for an equaliser right from the start of the second half and Thomas Butler's curling effort was comfortably dealt with by Speroni.
The Palace goalkeeper had to be alert to parry Mark Gower's shot before Calvin Andrew had a good chance to double Palace's lead but dragged the shot wide.
Swans boss Roberto Martinez brought Gorka Pintado on for Gower and the Spaniard thought he had equalised soon after coming on but the goal was disallowed for a foul on Speroni.
Minutes later Palace took advantage of that reprieve to doubled their lead in the 66th minute when Carle picked the ball up on the edge of the box before firing a precise shot past De Vries.
Djilali almost made it 3-0 but his shot was saved by De Vries and at the other end Speroni did well to turn Darren Pratley's shot around the post.
Crystal Palace substitute Sean Scannell sent a shot wide late on as the Eagles held on to take a well-deserved three points.
