Championship top scorer Glenn Murray was at it again as Crystal Palace beat fellow promotion hopefuls Middlesbrough 4-1 at Selhurst Park this afternoon.
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Murray netted a brace to add to goals from Peter Ramage and Kevin Phillips as Palace climbed to fourth in the table and inflicted a fifth defeat in six games on their stuttering opponents.
Manchester United-bound Wilfried Zaha carved out several chances for Murray to add to his tally for the season, which stood at 25 prior to kickoff.
The Eagles striker took the first of those, tapping in from three yards after Zaha dribbled through a pair of Boro defenders and crossed to at the back post.
England international Zaha crafted two more opportunities for his teammate, but Murray wasted both, firstly flicking a cross just wide before sending an unmarked header over the crossbar.
Middlesbrough survived the Palace barrage before creating a succession of late first-half chances.
Faris Haroun's shot from a tight angle was cleared off the line by Ramage, before Josh McEachran wildly lashed a 12-yard drive into the stands.
Any momentum Boro had was quashed when Ramage swept the ball past Jason Steele to give the hosts a two-nil advantage moments after the resumption of play.
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Murray then increased Palace's lead with a thumping 25-yard drive which gave Steele in the visiting goal no hope.
Haroun was not to be denied for a second time and pulled one back for the Teeside outfit on 80 minutes, racing onto an Ishmael Miller flick before slotting past Julian Speroni.
However, the Eagles restored their three-goal winning margin when Phillips came off the bench to smartly shoot left-footed into the bottom corner.
Joe Fish
