Pardew's management of Palace starts on winning note post 2-1 win over Tottenham

Alan Pardew's return to Crystal Palace as manager started on a winning note as his side beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in their Premier League clash on Saturday.

Pardew took charge of his first league game since leaving Newcastle United to join Palace, the club he represented as a player.

Palace's prospects of claiming a first win in nine league games looked miserable when Harry Kane fired the opener to give Tottenham the lead in the 48th minute, Sport24 reported.

However, Dwight Gayle levelled the score in the 68th minute with a penalty, awarded after Benjamin Stambouli upended Joe Ledley, before Jason Puncheon's 80th-minute finish inflicted a first defeat on Tottenham in seven league games.

Pardew's aims are hardly ambitious, with the new manager making it clear that he would be satisfied if Palace finished the season one place above the bottom three.

The Palace manager is hoping to engineer a recovery during the second half of the season similar to that overseen by Tony Pulis at Selhurst Park 12 months previously.

Glenn Murray was making his first league appearance since returning to Palace from a four-month loan at Reading, but the striker wasted a chance to celebrate his return with a goal when Hugo Lloris raced out to save after the striker had been sent clear on goal.

Palace's disappointment was compounded three minutes after the restart when Kane found space on the edge of Palace's penalty area and drilled a low, right-foot shot beyond Julian Speroni and into the bottom-left corner.

Tottenham should have moved through the gears and killed the game off, but Palace bounced back showing impressive resilience to work their way back into the game.

Pardew's men levelled after Stambouli was adjudged to have fouled Ledley after sliding in, allowing Gayle to equalise from the spot.

The momentum was with Palace and with Wilfried Zaha causing problems after coming on for Murray, they went ahead in 80th minute when the winger set up Puncheon, who fired home left-footed from 16 yards out, the report added.