Allardyce joy as Palace revival gathers pace

SAM ALLARDYCE hailed the start of the recovery after Crystal Palace climbed out of the Premier League relegation zone with a hard-fought win.

Superb second-half goals from Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend earned Palace a 2-0 victory over their former manager Tony Pulis at The Hawthorns.

Palace have now won successive games for the first time under Allardyce and, after a frustrating start, his work now seems to be bearing fruit.

The Palace boss said: ‘It’s the start of the recovery, I would say, with back-toback wins and the performance, both in and out of possession.

‘Out of possession gave us the platform for victory and then the ask for better quality in the final third came with two outstanding pieces of quality.

‘The first was Wilfried’s goal with the diagnal ball, a precision pass taken on his chest, bang, in the back of the net.

Then the top goal of our season − I don’t know if anyone in the Premier League will beat that one today − of Andros Townsend running from his own half, dribbling into opposition’s box and just seeing West Brom off.

‘That has been a great lift for us all. We got the basics in place, nullified their attack, limited them to very few chances, kept the crowd quiet and punished them when we got the opportunity.’

Pulis said: ‘We were tepid right from the beginning, there was no spark. We needed someone to give us that bit of a lift. I don’t think any of our players have played to the level they could have.’