The victory saw them move eleven points clear of third from bottom Sheffield United who were pegged back by Millwall at Brammall Lane in a 1-1 draw and the defeat at the Ricoh Arena leaves Palace fourth bottom.
Leaders QPR didn't play whilst second place Cardiff left it to beat Scunthorpe 1-0.
Third place Norwich beat Reading 2-1 whilst fourth placed Swansea came from 3-1 down to beat Middlesbrough. Sixth placed Leeds won 2-0 at Bristol City for whom former Sky Blue Lous Carey made his 600th appearance.
Leicester are up to seventh after winning the East Midlands derby 2-0 at Pride Park and Burnley moved up to eighth with a 3-1 win at Watford.
Elsewhere, Barnsley drew 1-1 with Ipswich, Portsmouth won 2-0 at Doncaster and Hull City beat bottom side Preston 1-0.
Former Sky Blue Craig Reid was up against Shrewsbury's former Sky Blue Jermaine Grandinson in the League Two fixture this afternoon. Shrewsbury won 1-0.
Jonny Jackson scored for Charlton in a 3-2 win over Peterborough. Andy Whing scored for Leyton Orient in a 4-1 win over Bristol Rovers and Gary Madine scored for Sheffield Wednesday in a 2-1 defeat at Rochdale.
Leon McKenzie scored for Northampton in a 1-1 draw at Port Vale.
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