Andy Johnson, as he promised, returned to haunt Birmingham City with a vital match-winning goal to lift the Eagles up the Premiership table.
Johnson's 41st-minute winner plunged Steve Bruce's side into even greater gloom. City are now without a win in seven games as they continue to miss the finishing power of the injured Mikael Forssell.
City dominated for long spells but Johnson made full use of his only real chance to effectively kill off his former club with his eighth goal of the season.
The return of Robbie Savage to City's starting line-up had little impact in the early stages. The industrious Welshman attempted to win the midfield battle but Palace were more than alive to the situation.
Fortunately Savage and Michael Hughes did not carry over their recent international confrontation and both players were on their best behaviour.
Savage had what turned out to be the best goalscoring opportunity in the opening 25 minutes but he completely missed his kick attempting to drive home a left-footed shot.
Typically he raced the full length of the pitch to get back and tackle a Palace player in the far corner of the pitch.
It was this kind of spirit which enabled Birmingham to maintain an unrelenting attack in their bid to end a barren spell witch has seen them plummet down the table.
But a serious lack of a goalscorer hampered much of their play as big-name signings Emile Heskey and Dwight Yorke continued to struggle to find their form.
Johnson, on his return to St Andrews, also made little impact in the first half-hour. Republic of Ireland skipper Kenny Cunningham, who has recently kept the likes of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Thierry Henry and Andy Cole in close check, appeared to have little trouble with the diminutive striker.
In fairness Johnson, the top English goalscorer in the Premiership this season, did not receive much of a service as Palace were often confined to keeping Birmingham's eager attacks at bay.
But in the 41st minute he demonstrated why he is such a prolific goalscorer when he collected a throughball from Wayne Routledge and raced through to score with a low angled shot in to the far corner of the net.
The Eagles had earlier been indebted to Fitz Hall who cleared a Mario Melchiot effort off the line after Gabor Kiraly had been beaten.
As the sun began to break through the early morning mist, Darren Anderton was introduced in place of Stan Lazaridis but the pattern of the match hardly changed.
Palace were content to sit on their slender lead as they allowed Birmingham to batter away at their solid defence in which Hall and Emerson Boyce were stalwarts.
It proved to be a good tactic as the visitors held on reasonably easily to their lead as the home fans grew increasingly frustrated.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Andy Johnson (Crystal Palace) - Marked a dream return to his old club with a goal and performance that showed what a much-improved player he is since his St Andrews days.