Saviour Sam proves value against Silva

difficult. We made quick changes behind the scenes and the recruitment in January was one of the big elements. They were conceding so many goals when I arrived, so we had to start from that defensive base. “I knew this fight would be the hardest. We had a little stumble but the way we saw off Hull really pleased me. We did the job perfectly under enormous pressure.” It is a year and three days since Allardyce kept Sunderland up last season, and what a time it has been for him. He was appointed to and then lost the England job in a fashion that would have destroyed many and now has kept Palace in the top flight.

Allardyce, 62, who replaced Alan Pardew in late December, said: “The chairman saw he needed a change and thought I was the man – and we’ve done it. Without the board’s support we might not have.”

Allardyce banks a £2million bonus for keeping Palace up – on top of a £2m bonus for saving Sunderland and a £1m pay-off after losing the England job.

And he has now saved teams from the Premier League drop five times in his career.

With Swansea winning at Sunderland on Saturday, both Palace and Hull could have been dragged into a final day of relegation drama.

But Hull knew that if they lost, that was it – and in only three minutes Palace were in front. Andros Townsend’s lob forward was nodded back by Michael Dawson but Andrea Ranocchia completely missed his kick, leaving Zaha to easily beat Eldin Jakupovic.

Hull rallied briefly but, after James Tomkins headed wide, were undone again as Benteke charged onto a corner from Jason Puncheon and thumped his header home for his 17th goal of the season.

Seven minutes from time, Benteke put Jeffrey Schlupp away. He was brought down by Dawson, and Milivojevic slotted home the penalty.

Hull’s misery was complete in the final minute when Curtis Davies fluffed another clearance and James McArthur capitalised to set up Van Aanholt for a fourth.

CRYSTAL PALACE (4-2-3-1): Booked: