Preston North End were denied what looked like a clear-cut penalty as Crystal Palace capitalised and condemed North End to a third straight defeat.
Following a quiet first half in which chances were few and far between, Steffen Iversen scored the winner on his Palace debut.
Iversen had completed his free transfer from Rosenburg on Sunday and was only allowed to play after being given international clearance earlier on today.
The 34-year-old veteran headed home from Kieron Cadogan's right-wing cross just before the hour mark to give Palace their first win since November and continue to leave North End reeling at the foot of the Championship seven points from safety.
It was Dougie Freedman's first game in charge of Crystal Palace after he took charge of the Eagles on Sunday. The former Palace player wasted no time in stamping his authority on the team as he made five changes to the side that suffered the 3 - 0 defeat to Millwall.
Preston's caretaker boss David Unsworth, whose first game in charge was their 2-1 loss to Derby on New year's Day, made four changes to his side.
The fact both teams were sat at the rear of the Chapionship standings, meant that it was no surprise the game started rather nervously. The best chance fell to Palace's Neil Danns, whose drilled shot was easily saved by North End's goalkeeper Andy Lonergan.
The two sides played out a 4-3 thriller at Deepdale in the reverse fixture in October but defences were well and truly on top in the first half, although Andy Dorman was close to getting on the end of Wilfried Zaha's cross.
At the opposite end, Paul Hayes swivelled and volleyed wide after ping-pong in the Palace area.
The home-side made a bright start to the second half and Dorman should have done better when he cut into the box from the left and skied his effort.
Then the talking point of the game. North End winger Keith Treacy did well to break into the host's box and in slid Patrick McCarthy, who took out the winger getting all of the man and what looked like none of the ball, but the ref ruled it to be a dive and booked the number 11.
And to add insult to injury the home-side took the lead seven minutes later when debutant Steffen Iversen rose highest in the area following a looping Cadogan cross.
Barry Nicholson spurned a golden chance to equalise when he headed wide from Billy Jones' cross, while Cadogan missed the chance to seal the victory when he struck wide when clean through.
However Palace held on and were able to claim their fifth successive victory over Preston at Selhurst Park.
After the game North End manager David Unsworth rued the referee's penalty decision:
"I'm sure all the fans who were here today and all of the Preston fans who will see the replays on TV won't believe what they are watching because it's an absolute stone-waller."
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