PREM: Huddersfield 0-1 Crystal Palace
Zaha silences the home crowd
Wilfried Zaha handed Crystal Palace a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Huddersfield Town at the John Smith's Stadium.
Zaha was a doubt for the game after missing Palace's 2-0 defeat against Southampton with a groin injury, but he was fit enough to start and ultimately proved the difference between the two sides.
Huddersfield dominated for large periods but they lacked a killer edge in front of goal, with Steve Mounie missing a great chance with a header in the first half, and Aaron Mooy rattling the post with a volley in the second.
Victory for Palace means they have ended their run of league defeats while Huddersfield still await their first victory of the season.
Huddersfield's gameplan throughout revolved around spraying the ball out wide to their wing-backs and whipping in crosses, and it almost worked perfectly after 17 minutes.
The influential Mooy found Chris Lowe on the left wing and his inch-perfect cross was met by Mounie in the middle but he could only direct the ball over the bar with Wayne Hennessey completely stranded.
Tempers started to flare midway through the first half with Lee Mason reaching for his pocket three times to caution James McArthur, Zanka Jorgensen and Zaha in quick succession.
Zanka's yellow came for a cynical foul on Zaha and moments later the Palace talisman let his frustrations get the better of him by barging into Florent Hadergjonaj long after the ball had been played. That incident resulted in Zaha emerging as enemy No 1 in the eyes of the Huddersfield fans but he soon silenced their boos with a sensational solo strike.
After playing a one-two with Jordan Ayew in Huddersfield's half, Zaha embarked on a slaloming run down the left before skipping inside Hadergjonaj and bending an unstoppable shot into the far corner from an acute angle.
To their credit, Huddersfield responded well to going behind and continued to dominate proceedings after the interval. Right on the hour mark they went agonisingly close to equalising when Mooy re-adjusted his body before firing a technically perfect volley onto the foot of the post with Hennessey saving the subsequent rebound attempt from Hadergjonaj.
Palace always looked a threat on the counter-attack and they could have settled it when Andros Townsend led a quick break, before teeing up Ayew who miscued his shot with Zaha blazing the loose ball well over the bar.
Soon after, McArthur missed another good opportunity on the counter after being teed up by Zaha while Cheikhou Kouyate had a goal ruled out for a foul on Lossl.
With virtually the last kick of the game, Phillip Billing volleyed towards goal but McArthur toe-poked it just wide to ensure that Palace came away with a vital three points.