‏Tony Pulis believes hard work was the key as Crystal Palace beat Aston Villa 1-0 to climb out of the relegation zone.

‏The away side has not won this fixture in the last 13 league and cup meetings since a 1-0 top-flight victory for in September 1991.

‏And in a game of few chances it was substitute Dwight Gayle who netted the winner in the 92nd minute as the Eagles recorded just their second away victory of the season.

‏"It was a fantastic strike by Gayley — he can do that. No one more pleased than myself to see it go in," said Pulis.

‏"But it shouldn't take away from the rest of the lads and what they've given today — the keeper all the way through to the subs we used were very good and worked very hard for the result."

‏The first half offered very little in the way of entertainment for the 37,752 who had opted to stay away from the Boxing Day sales.

‏Libor Kozak led the line for the home side due to the continued absence of Christian Benteke through injury.

‏And it was the Czech striker who had the best chance to open the scoring as his injury-time header cleared off the line by Adrian Mariappa.

‏The second period was more of a contest with Jason Puncheon forcing Brad Guzan into a save early on before the Villa keeper excellently saved former Villa man Barry Bannan's low shot

‏Puncheon was again kept out by the outstanding Guzan midway through the second-half before Villa substitute Jordan Bowery had a header tipped over by Eagles keeper Julian Speroni in the closing stages of the half.

‏But with the game looking destined to end in a stalemate, Gayle curled in a sublime effort from 20-yards past a helpless Guzan to move Palace above fellow London strugglers Fulham and West Ham in the table.

‏"It's a 38 game season and everybody is taking it game by game," said Pulis.

‏"We play Man City on Saturday which will be very very difficult for us as they are averaging just under five goals a game at home.

‏"We know how tough it's going to be tough, not just the next game but the ones after — it just keeps rolling. We just need to remain focused."

‏In the home dugout pressure continues to mount for Villa boss Paul Lambert who has now seen his side slump to fourth straight defeat leaving them in 13th place in the league — three points above the relegation zone.

‏"It's tough to take. There was a lot of endeavour, a lot of hard work, but not much creativity and we were hit with a classic counter-attack," said Lambert.

‏"We had most of the game. Crystal Palace might have had the clear-cut chances, and the goal from their point of view was a terrific strike. So we're disappointed."

‏More worryingly for Lambert is his sides lack of cutting edge in front of goal.

‏The Villans have failed to score in five of their last six Premier League home games and their tally of six goals at home being the lowest in the division.

‏"The home form isn't good enough and lack of goals is contributing to not winning games so it's disappointing from that point of view," said the Scot.

‏"We have to stand up and be counted and try to go on that front foot.

‏"I can't fault the lads for their effort and endeavour. We have to create more when we have most of the ball."

‏But despite being booed off at the final whistle the Villa manager remains upbeat despite his sides poor form.

He said: "My job is to try and be as positive as I can. I've got to, that's my job. I'm not going to be downbeat, you've got to pick them up and go again on Saturday (against Swansea)."