Dwight Gayle scored a hat-trick as Crystal Palace earned some respite from their recent troubles by beating Walsall 3-0 in the Capital One Cup second round.
The Eagles have lost their opening two games of the Premier League season and are still without a permanent manager following the shock resignation of Tony Pulis.
However, they made easy work of their League One opponents at the Bescot Stadium on Tuesday evening as club-record signing Gayle stole the show on his first start of the campaign.
It took just seven minutes for Gayle to breach the Walsall defence as Adlene Guedioura's quick free kick released the striker to drill a shot beyond home goalkeeper Richard O'Donnell from a tight angle.
It was another set-piece situation which brought about Palace's second. Gayle's strike from 25 yards found a hole in the wall on its way into the net, and saw him secure his third brace in his last five outings.
Things were to get better for the Selhurst Park outfit before the break as Gayle completed his 41-minute treble by creating room for himself on the edge of the box to fire a shot into the bottom corner.
Walsall nearly claimed a lifeline when a bending shot from Ashley Grimes cannoned back off the post five minutes into a second half in which Palace were able to take their foot off the gas and make several changes.
Glenn Murray came the closest to increasing Keith Millen's side's advantage when his powerful shot from distance went narrowly wide, but Palace still comfortably avoided a second successive exit at this stage.
Joe Fish
