JOE Ledley popped up with the vital winner for Crystal Palace this afternoon as the Eagles came away with a hard-fought 1-0 win at Leicester City.
His header ten minutes into the second half lifts Alan Pardew's men on to 26 points and six clear of the relegation zone.
The game had its moments, with both sides having decent chances but thankfully for the south Londoners, they managed to edge it thanks to Ledley.
The Eagles won a corner after just 60 seconds through Wilfried Zaha, and they had the first chance from it as Jason Puncheon picked out Jordon Mutch completely unmarked, but his first time effort went way wide of the target.
Wilfried Zaha had a goal-bound shot well blocked by Wes Morgan soon after following some good hold-up play from Dwight Gayle, before a decent cross from Puncheon found Mutch but his header was cleared.
The Eagles enjoyed most of the possession before the midway point of the first period, before the hosts finally started to get a grip on proceedings.
Riyad Mahrez forced Julian Speroni into a super save as the ball was fired in from the right side of the box, and from the follow-up Nugent's effort was well blocked.
Leicester cranked up the pressure with Esteban Cambiasso's long range effort snuffed out by James McArthur, and following a corner from Mahrez, Nugent got in front of his market to head against the woodwork.
Palace just needed to calm things down but Leicester weren't going to give up their onslaught that easily, and on 35 minutes Speroni came to the rescues again when he pulled off a brilliant point-blank save to deny Schlupp's piledriver before Mahrez scuffed the rebound over.
Scott Dann went very close with a header from a Gayle corner, and despite taking a slight deflection on to the side-netting, a goal kick was given instead.
Following a clash of heads between Dann and Wes Morgan, the Palace defender was replaced at the break by Brede Hangeland, while the ineffective Mutch was taken off for Yaya Sanogo.
The French striker hit the side-netting a minute into the second period, but the travelling faithful only had to wait another ten minutes or so to celebrate the opener.
Joe Ledley it was to draw first blood, heading into the top corner after Hangeland headed back into the mixer following a Gayle corner.
It could be have been 1-1, however, just 90 seconds later as Mahrez rounded Speroni on the right and looked for a team-mate, only for McArthur to save the day with a vital interception.
With 20 minutes remaining, Puncheon could have put the game beyond Leicester with a brilliant effort from outside the box, curling inches wide with Schwarzer beaten.
Gayle shot straight at Schwarzer after intercepting a loose ball and ran through the middle to test the custodian, before Adlene Guedioura came on to replace him with 12 minutes remaining.
Late on, Palace had Speroni to thank once again as he pulled off a stunning save at his near post from Vardy.
And despite four minutes added on at the end, Palace defended superbly to make sure of all three points.
The Pardew effect continues and Palace go into next week's FA Cup clash with Liverpool in massive confidence.
Palace: Speroni, Ward, Kelly, Dann (Hangeland 46), Delaney, Ledley, McArthur, Zaha, Puncheon, Mutch (Sanogo 46), Gayle (Guedioura 78).
Subs Not Used: Hennessey, Mariappa, Murray, Campbell.
Attendance: 31,695. (3,267 Palace fans)
Referee: Lee Mason
Report by Palace reporter Mark Ritson
