KAGISHO Dikgacoi's 82nd minute winner earned Crystal Palace a crucial three points in their bid to beat the drop against Cardiff City this evening.

The Eagles survived a missed penalty from Peter Whittingham before the decisive goal to maintain an unbeaten home record stretching back to late October.

Manager Dougie Freedman had few complaints about the performance of his players in Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Cardiff, with only one change made to the starting XI.

Even that was hardly a shock because with regular number one Julian Speroni back to full fitness, it was time for Lewis Price to quickly reacquaint himself with the bench again.

Former Eagles skipper Mark Hudson was greeted with a predictable boo on his return to Selhurst, hardly a surprise bearing in mind his controversial switch across south east London to link up with Charlton in 2008.

Both sides made a tentative start, claiming a couple of corners each in the opening five minutes which came to nothing.

James Vaughan placed a tame ninth minute effort straight at Stephen Bywater in the game's first effort on target.

Bywater was forced into a more serious stop when he was forced to push behind Vaughan's attempt after the striker had latched onto David Wright's pass.

A long punt forward found Steffen Iversen two minutes later but he failed to bring the ball under control, enabling two Cardiff defenders to get back and clear the danger.

Vaughan's 15th minute header went across face of goal after he rose high to connect with Kagisho Dikgacoi's delivery.

Speroni's first stop of the game didn't arrive to the 28th minute and he was never going to be troubled by Jay Emmanuel-Thomas' low 30 yard drive.

Neil Danns should have at least tested Bywater five minutes later when completely unmarked in the area but he failed to make a decent connection and placed his shot wide of the target.

Dean Moxey disposed Paul Quinn just inside the Cardiff half a minute before the break and swung in a dangerous cross which had to be scrambled clear by the visiting defence.

But there was no disguising the fact this had been a disappointing opening half, although Palace were certainly edging it in terms of chances created because the Bluebirds had produced next to nothing so far in the final third.

Emmanuel-Thomas' 47th minute shot was put behind by Darren Ambrose at the expense of a corner.

Craig Bellamy, who had been a completely anonymous figure all night, wildly skied a free-kick off target on 55 minutes, showing signs he was more likely to get a call-up for the Welsh rugby squad than the football one on that evidence.

But the best chance of the match fell Cardiff's way four minutes later when Emmanuel-Thomas' stunning shot from the edge of the area was just tipped over the bar by Speroni.

And the Eagles keeper had to be alert again on 64 minutes to put behind Stephen McPhail's volley as Cardiff finally began to show exactly why they had aspirations of winning promotion to the Premier League.

They really should have scored when they were awarded a penalty on 69 minutes.

Hudson's header from Peter Whittingham's free-kick hit the bar and the rebound fell to Michael Chopra, whose shot was handled by Wright before Speroni saved it.

The referee pointed to the spot but Whittingham's spot kick hit the bottom of the post and went behind.

Vaughan had the ball in the net on 72 minutes after Danns' shot from the edge of the area was only pushed out by Bywater but the referee controversially ruled the on-loan Everton striker was offside when he fired in from two yards.

Ambrose did well to break into the area and win an 80th minute corner but his follow up cross from the initial flag-kick left a lot to be desired.

But the breakthrough came for the Eagles eight minutes from time when Dikgacoi got on the end of Counago's long ball and got the better of Dekel Keinan before applying the final touch with a cheeky back heel to beat Bywater.

I'm not entirely sure he knew too much about it in fairness but with Sheffield United and Middlesbrough coming from behind to win, it could well prove to be a vital strike come the end of the season.

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Crystal Palace: Speroni, Clyne, McCarthy, Gardner, Dikgacoi, Wright, Ambrose (Davis 85), Danns, Iversen (Counago 70), Vaughan (Scannell 90). Subs not used: Price, Garvan, Zaha, Easter.