Tony Pulis inflicted a 1-0 defeat on his former club Stoke City which saw his Crystal Palace side climb out of the Premier League relegation zone.

Jason Puncheon, the villain last week when he missed horribly from the penalty spot against Tottenham Hotspur, scored the only goal of the game on 51 minutes.

Potters keeper Jack Butland made several excellent saves in the latter stages to keep Stoke in the contest, but Mark Hughes's team could not find an equaliser and are now winless in five top-flight matches.

Below, Sports Mole analyses whether the result was reflective of the action at Selhurst Park.

Match statistics

Palace
Shots: 12
On target: 6
Possession: 43%
Corners: 4
Fouls: 9

Stoke
Shots: 17
On target: 2
Possession: 57%
Corners: 3
Fouls: 13

Was the result fair?

Stoke did not make a great deal of effort to win the game until the final 10 minutes. Palace had all of the clearest sights of goal and also defended very well, so this was a well-earned and well-deserved victory for the Eagles and one that sees them move to a season-high 16th in the table.

Palace's performance

Pulis's teams have always built from the back, prioritising clean sheets and another organised defensive display was key to their success this afternoon, with Danny Gabbidon protecting the near post very well. Another Pulis trait, playing with two genuine wingers, caused Stoke problems with Yannick Bolasie in particular a lively presence on whichever flank he popped up on, even if the final ball was not always there. Marouane Chamakh was again a willing runner, although his lack of goals may be a concern to his manager. The Eagles are the lowest scorers in the whole of England so will need players like Puncheon, who took his goal very well, to continue to chip in if they are to beat the drop.

Stoke's performance

It was the same old story for Stoke, who had plenty of the ball but struggled to create anything of note. Possession is irrelevant if you cannot do something with the play when you have it and a ratio of only two shots on target out of 17 efforts show that the Potters struggled to break down Palace and ended up shooting from range on most occasions. The passing game that Hughes has tried to implement often went missing today also, with their defenders not afraid to knock it long to Peter Crouch, a tactic that may have paid dividends if there were more bodies forward in support of him. A fifth game without victory, but one positive for Stoke is the performance of Butland, who could well be the long-term number one at the Britannia Stadium if Asmir Begovic seeks pastures new.

Sports Mole's man of the match

Jack Butland: Palace have kept clean sheets in seven of their last 13 matches, but their defensive stability today was very much a team effort. The standout performance on the pitch today came from Butland, whose reflex saves late on ensured that Stoke were still in with a chance until the final whistle. Puncheon was twice denied, as was Joel Ward and Stuart O'Keefe from close range. This is the kind of display which may put Butland back on Roy Hodgson's England radar.

Biggest gaffe

Oussama Assaidi was largely quiet going forward and even though he made his best efforts to do some good work in the other direction, it did not always work out that way. He did well to initially pinch the ball from Adrian Mariappa, but his blind pass back into the danger area allowed Puncheon to pounce and net the only goal of the game. It may be a mistake resulting from Hughes's desire to play out from the back, but in that situation, he should have just got rid of it.

Referee performance

Referee Lee Mason will not have many quieter afternoons than this. He did not brandish a yellow card until the 80th minute and there was not a hint of controversy about any incident in the game. Hughes has been vocally critical of the performances of officials in recent weeks, but he has nobody to blame for defeat today but his players.

What next?

Palace: The Eagles travel to holders Wigan Athletic in the fourth round of the FA Cup next Saturday, before returning to league matters by hosting Hull City the following weekend, knowing that a win will seem them go level on points with the Tigers.

Stoke: Hughes faces one of his former clubs, Chelsea, in the FA Cup fourth round at Stamford Bridge a week today, and in a fortnight's time they will be hoping to end a five-match winless run when they travel to relegation-threatened Sunderland.