Crystal Palace made it five wins in a row with this decisive victory over an out-of-sorts West Ham.

The Irons had the more decisive moments of the first half with Andy Carroll appearing to be pushed to the ground by Scott Dann only to see the penalty appeal waved away by referee Martin Atkinson.

And Carroll connected with a Stewart Downing cross during a decent period of West Ham pressure but Palace keeper Julian Speroni pulled off a point-blank save from the header.

The Eagles weathered more West Ham pressure at the start of the second half before making a vital breakthrough in the 58th minute.

Cameron Jerome broke off down the right, being brought down by left back Pablo Armero when he cut into the penalty box.

Referee Martin Atkinson had no hesitation awarding a spot kick which Mile Jedinak duly converted.

West Ham boss Sam Allardyce was not impressed with the Armero penalty, as Jerome was out on his own offering no threat on goal and with no supporting players.

All Armero had to do was shepherd him away into safety, instead of sticking out the obliging leg that the Palace forward duly dived over.

There was more Palace pressure that could have seen the away side increase their lead.

Allardyce then rang the changes — taking off first Matt Jarvis, who had been one of the Iron’s better players, and then Downing, while bringing on Carlton Cole.

West Ham were left with two big strikers down the middle but no wingers to provide the crosses.

The unhappy West Ham faithful greeted the substitution of Downing with chants of “You don’t know what your doing.”

Palace boss Tony Pulis praised his players for their application.

He said that Palace were a different proposition to Stoke City, where he managed previously. “We sat down and saw what suited the players — there is great pace on the wing,” said Pulis, who rated winger Yannick Bolosie the man of the match.

Allardyce put his team’s loss down to a failure to finish, the penalty that wasn’t given and “the silly penalty” that was given away.