Marouane Chamakh scored the winner for Crystal Palace in their 1-0 win over West Ham in the Barclays Premier League. The much-maligned Moroccan striker's goal secured victory in Tony Pulis' first home match in charge of the Eagles and lifted them off the foot of the table. Chamakh had only previously found the net once this season - which was still one goal more than he managed in five months on loan with West Ham last term.
But his 42nd-minute header earned Palace only their third win of the season, and their first since Pulis officially took over from Ian Holloway. West Ham went into the match knowing victory could have catapulted them into the top half, but instead they are now just three points ahead of a Palace side who looked doomed a few weeks ago.
England Under-21 starlet Ravel Morrison tried his best to unsettle the Palace defence on the rare occasions he escaped Mile Jedinak's clutches and one powerful run drew a foul from Damien Delaney, who was shown a yellow card. Mark Noble chipped the resulting free-kick over the Palace wall, a move straight off the training ground, but Kevin Nolan scuffed his volley on the turn straight at Julian Speroni. West Ham's best chance fell to Mo Diame, who should have done better when he met a curling cross from Stewart Downing only to head over the top. That miss looked even more costly moments later when Palace took the lead. Barry Bannan's initial corner was blocked but, when the ball came back out to him, the Scotland midfielder whipped in a second cross which was glanced home by the now unmarked Chamakh.
