Brilliant second-half strikes from Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend earned Crystal Palace victory at West Brom which saw them move out of the Premier League bottom three. Zaha's 55th-minute goal was only the second effort on target in the match, but it was worth savouring. Yohan Cabaye played a sublime cross-field pass for his team-mate on the left of the area. The former Manchester United player chested down the ball and then struck a low, angled effort past keeper Ben Foster. But better was to come six minutes from time. Townsend picked up the ball from the left of his own area and ran to the opposition box, before shifting past marker Gareth McAuley in the area and striking a low drive past Foster.

He looked exhausted after the lung-busting late run, but it assured Palace of a very important three points in their fight to stay up. There were only five shots on target during this largely uneventful spectacle at The Hawthorns. The closest either team came to scoring in the opening 45 minutes was when Christian Benteke's header was cleared off the line by Chris Brunt. It needed something special to break the deadlock - step forward Zaha. He had drifted in and out of the game, with his best contribution up until the goal coming from a teasing cross that McAuley did well to clear.

Then came the goal. Cabaye found Zaha with a pass any quarter-back would be proud of. The Palace winger controlled the ball, first time, before drilling into the far corner. That strike would have been a worthy winner, but it was trumped by Townsend's effort. The winger, who moments earlier had a shot blocked by Foster, ran the full length of the pitch before applying a firm finish, which went in from a slight deflection off Jonny Evans. Tony Pulis' side were expected to come away from the match with their fourth league win in six, but neither striker Salomon Rondon nor his fellow attackers produced much to set the home fans' pulses racing.

Venezuelan Rondon twice got into goalscoring positions early in the first half, but was prevented from having an effort on target by the alert Mamadou Sakho. Other than those two moments, the only other incident that brought cheer from the home fans was when referee Mike Jones was accidentally sent to the turf by West Brom midfielder Jake Livermore.

Palace boss Sam Allardyce said after the match: "This is a much bigger win than last weekend against Middlesbrough because to put back-to-back wins together here against West Brom at the Hawthorns is a big statement. "It gives the players the confidence to push on and get out of the position we're in. It was a quality performance and we deserved the three points. "In terms of catching up on games and points, back-to-back wins make such a big difference. We're working in that bottom-seven league and trying to win that. "We did the basics so well and the quality of both goals topped it. West Brom barely had a shot on goal. "I said the new players would make a difference and they have done that."

West Brom manager Tony Pulis said: "No excuses today. We weren't at it right from the start. Congratulations to Palace. "I'm not going to criticise the players because they have been fantastic this year. We've had an off day and I hope that is all it is. "Why was it an off day? If I knew I'd be a genius. We've worked hard and trained hard this week. We were tepid right from the very beginning. On whether his side are guilty of switching off mentally after reaching the 40-point mark: "Complacency is the most annoying word in the dictionary. It is human nature to switch off a little bit sometimes. People are people - sometimes they have good days, sometimes they have bad days."