THERE must be something Sunderland suddenly quite like about a trip to Selhurst Park in November. Twelve months after enjoying a fine win under the guidance of Gus Poyet on a Monday night, Sam Allardyce repeated the trick to give everyone on Wearside a lift.

This victory - only the second here since 2001 - might not have been with as many goals, but the Black Cats did everything Allardyce had asked of his players from start to finish to keep a dangerous Crystal Palace side at bay – and it brought with it the reward of a Jermain Defoe goal along the way.

There was plenty of fortune about how the winner came about when Scott Dann got in a mess as he attempted to shepherd the ball back to goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey, but Defoe and his team-mates will not care too much about that.

The 32-year-old’s fourth goal in a Sunderland shirt has given Allardyce a second win in five since taking over and it has closed the gap to safety to just a point ahead of Saturday’s visit of Stoke City to the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland had only collected a single point from a possible 18 on their travels in the Premier League this season, so Allardyce now has something extra to give his players belief as they push to climb up and away from the relegation zone.

The Premier League table was not a nice sight for Sunderland’s players beforehand, but it was a lot better than it might have been after a free weekend.

The four-point gap to safety was not extended courtesy of Newcastle’s 3-0 home defeat to Leicester, but that would have counted for nothing if defeat number nine of the season had arrived in south east London.

Allardyce felt it was important to keep former Sunderland striker Connor Wickham – who hardly had a sniff just 24 hours after claiming he feels a million times better in London than he did on Wearside - and Palace’s adventurous supply line quiet and he made five changes to the team that lost to Southampton last time out; including pairing Defoe and Steven Fletcher up front in the same 5-3-2 system which saw them lose at Everton.

The difference this time was that there was no floating Adam Johnson behind the front two, with Lee Cattermole, Yann M’Vila and Seb Larsson all asked to provide greater protection to a backline which had John O’Shea at the heart of it once more.

It was a tactic which worked well. There were plenty of green away shirts stacked up to make it difficult for Palace’s forwards to find a way through and Sunderland also occasionally looked threatening on the break, which has become a trademark of the home side.

Two different counter-attacks ended with wayward shots from Patrick van Aanholt and Defoe in the opening 20 minutes; the first attack of which was the best.

Van Aanholt sidefooted wide from 12 yards after Billy Jones, who had been set free following the break-up of a Palace attack, had rolled a neat pass into him.

Those were the best chances of the opening half hour too, despite Palace’s significantly greater share of possession. The only time goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon had been called into action during that period was when he comfortably gathered a low drive from Yannick Bolasie.

There was a rasping 25-yard effort from James McArthur before half-time after space opened up in front of him for the first time, but that was only really due to the fact the ball had fallen invitingly for him in the Sunderland half.

Pantilimon’s goal led a charmed life shortly before the break as well when neither Bolasie nor Wilifried Zaha had the ball under enough control to force Pantilimon into a save from inside six yards when an O’Shea header bounced around the six-yard box for a while.

But there was enough about the first half display for Sunderland’s players to be positive about, with the five-man defence doing what was required to keep Palace’s advances at bay – Allardyce just needed it repeating after the restart.

Pardew was clearly frustrated because he changed things for the second half. He asked substitute Bakary Sako, a replacement for Jason Puncheon, to play higher up and join Wickham in attack to give the three centre-backs something extra to think about.

Yet it was Sunderland who once again went closest to scoring first. Yohan Cabaye, who would have been expected to be more of a nuisance at the other end, had to be alert at the back post to clear a goalbound header from Sebastian Coates following Larsson's corner.

That sparked Palace into life and Pantilimon had to be equal to a low strike from former Newcastle man Cabaye, which was destined for the bottom corner, while former Wolves striker Sako curled a fine effort a yard wide of the Romanian’s right hand post.

But Sunderland, who made an effective change of approach themselves for the last 30 when they left Defoe up on his own, were undeterred. They did have to do more defending, with Kaboul particularly impressive, but they still created chances.

Both Jeremain Lens, who came on with Duncan Watmore, and van Aanholt had unsuccessful efforts on goal before the big breakthrough arrived with ten minutes remaining when Jones played a hopeful ball through for Defoe to chase.

The former England striker had no right to win it, but his persistence forced defender Dann into an error, and the front-man had the simple task of finding the empty net after rounding Hennessey as more than 2,000 fans from Wearside went crazy in the far corner of the stadium.

Cabaye had a late free-kick to level things after Lens had brought down Zaha, but the effort clipped the side-netting before the final whistle blew to give Sunderland a massive boost in the bid to get this season up and running.

HOW TWITTER REACTED TO THE WIN:

Dan ‏@dan_safc3  

It feels weird waking up the day after an #safc win! I'd almost forgotten what it feels like

NDJ0602 ‏@NDJ0602  

Need 6 points from games against Stoke and Watford because the other games in December are truly horrific. #SAFC

Richard James Purdom ‏@RomeoJulietPapa  

League table looks much better (Not good, but better) after that win. Doesn't mean a lot if we don't get a result against Stoke though #safc

Michael A Purvis ‏@mikasavedlatin  

Duncan Watmore is a future Ballon d'Or winner #watchthisspace #SAFC #GingerMessi

leonm2056 ‏@leonmaddison

7 goals in 9 starts. If #SAFC are to stay up, Big Sam needs to find a way to accommodate @IAmJermainDefoe in his starting 11

Graeme Cotterill ‏@Cotterill0161 

The 3 points was absolute imperative, but also we were well organised from front to back and we were solid defensively for once! #SAFC