Newcastle 2 - 0 Crystal Palace

The Mapgies restored their three-point lead at the Championship summit

Newcastle pulled clear at the top of the Championship with a hard-fought win over crisis-club Crystal Palace.

A day after going into administration, Palace were a goal down after 20 minutes when Shaun Derry diverted Andy Carroll's header past his own keeper.

Even so Palace, who could only named three substitutes, had a string of fine chances to level with Danny Butterfield and Darren Ambrose going close.

Nile Ranger's cool finish on the break finally sealed the win in injury time.

It was a deflating end to a spirited display from the beleaguered visitors, whose highly-rated striker Victor Moses was pulled out of the game by the club's administrators.

Yet they started the game in fine style and created two early opportunities to take a surprise lead.

First, lone striker Calvin Andrew narrowly failed to round Steve Harper after being fed by Ambrose and minutes later, the unmarked Butterfield somehow headed Nick Carle's cross wide from point-blank range.

Newcastle then fortuitously took the lead when Palace midfielder Derry unwittingly guided Carroll's header past keeper Julian Speroni.

The Magpies began the second half strongly with Peter Lovenkrands firing wide on the turn and Carroll blasting an effort across the face of goal.

Neil Danns and Carle then had shots blocked in quick succession as the visitors fought vainly for an equaliser.

With 20 minutes remaining, the Eagles went desperately close to a leveller when Ambrose's shot came back off the post and Tamas Kadar managed to get a block on Danns' follow-up.

But their pressure counted for nothing and St James' Park breathed a sigh of relief four minutes into stoppage time when Ranger raced on to Wayne Routledge's pass and beat Speroni with ease.

Newcastle boss Chris Hughton:
"With a game in hand, we have stretched that lead again.

"And probably more importantly with West Brom's result yesterday (1-1 at Ipswich), we have managed to stretch that lead between ourselves and third.

"But I expect highs and lows, good form, bad form, wins and losses through to the end of the season."

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