Second-half goals from Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend fired relegation-threatened Crystal Palace to a vital 2-0 win at in-form West Bromwich Albion.

Zaha lit up a poor encounter at The Hawthorns when he opened the scoring after a neat piece of skill on 55 minutes.

Townsend wrapped up victory, Palace's second in successive games, with a superb solo effort six minutes from time.

The result lifted Palace out of the bottom three and indicated that Sam Allardyce's work is now starting to bear fruit after a frustrating start.

The first half was a disjointed affair with little in the way of goalmouth action.

Fifteen minutes had gone before either side created an opening, and that came and went as a dipping cross from Allan Nyom, intended for Salomon Rondon, was headed behind by Mamadou Sakho.

The only effort on target of the first half came when Christian Benteke rose to meet a corner but his header was blocked on the line by Chris Brunt.

Brunt had an opportunity at the other end but volleyed well over from 20 yards after a James Morrison cross.

As a drab first half drew to a close, Rondon appealed for a penalty and then a free kick just outside the area after collisions with Yohan Cabaye and Joel Ward, but was awarded neither.

After such dull fare, Zaha's strike came out of the blue.

The former Manchester United winger controlled a long crossfield pass from Cabaye on his chest and lashed home a left-foot shot from a tight angle.

Finally the game began to come to life, with Zaha charging into the box again, but he lost possession and Puncheon's follow-up attempt was deflected wide.

Nacer Chadli registered West Brom's first effort on target but Wayne Hennessey saved comfortably.

Palace threatened again when Luka Milivojevic played in Townsend but Ben Foster was quick off his line to block his shot.

The game reverted to its earlier scrappy state for a spell and one of the crowd's biggest cheers of the afternoon came when referee Mike Jones fell over after colliding with Jake Livermore.

The hosts could not find a way back and, as they pushed up in the latter stages, they were caught by Townsend.

The former Tottenham winger seized possession inside his own half and was allowed to run all the way to the West Brom area.

He turned Craig Dawson and then beat the sliding challenge of Evans to fire home from the left and secure three important points.