AS WINTER turns to spring, the white rose is wilting in the Coca-Cola Championship promotion race. First Sheffield United and now Leeds United appear to be stricken by nerves in the push for the Barclays Premiership and Crystal Palace may yet prove to be the prime beneficiaries after this comfortable victory at Elland Road moved Iain Dowie’s team to within eight points of second place.

Unbeaten on home turf in the league since mid-December, Leeds rarely looked like claiming the victory that would have lifted them to within one point of Neil Warnock’s faltering Sheffield United and Jobi McAnuff’s first-half goal proved sufficient for Palace to emerge victorious and with renewed hope of a swift return to the top flight after just one season away.

With Watford still to visit Selhurst Park and a trip to Bramall Lane to come, Dowie feels that automatic promotion remains possible. “Is it feasible for us to catch Sheffield United? Of course, it’s feasible,” the Palace manager said. “We are in a good groove and hopefully our experience of the last couple of seasons will be crucial. This is a big win.”

Leeds and Palace have failed to take full advantage of Sheffield United’s slide in recent weeks but the door to automatic promotion remains ajar. Time is running out for Palace, however, and that perhaps explained their hungrier start to the game as they twice went close to scoring inside the opening ten minutes.

Andy Johnson should have claimed his fifteenth goal of the season four minutes into the game when Clinton Morrison released his strike partner by dummying McAnuff’s cross, allowing it to run to Johnson on the penalty spot. The forward only had Neil Sullivan to beat but the goalkeeper denied Johnson by diverting the ball to safety with his legs. Moments later, Johnson flashed a left-foot effort just wide of the far post after using his pace to escape Paul Butler.

Leeds struggled to mount any first-half pressure and Palace were rewarded for their efforts when McAnuff scored two minutes before half-time. Johnson’s through-ball released the midfield player, who beat Sullivan with an accurate strike into the far corner.

Leeds were one-dimensional in response and Palace kept them at arm’s length until Gabor Kiraly was forced into action to save Matthew Kilgallon’s close-range header after 67 minutes.

Despite the loss, Kevin Blackwell, the Leeds manager, remained bullish. “I don’t think nerves were a problem,” he said. “We’ve lost to our promotion rivals, but they lost to us recently and bounced back, and that’s what we have to do.”

LEEDS UNITED (4-3-2-1): N Sullivan — G Kelly, P Butler, M Kilgallon, S Crainey (sub: J Beckford, 76min) — L Miller, J Douglas (sub: E Bakke, 84), S Derry — D Healy (sub: R Blake, 82), E Lewis — R Hulse. Substitutes not used: I Bennett, I Moore. Booked: Kilgallon, Kelly.

CRYSTAL PALACE (4-3-1-2): G Kiraly — E Boyce, F Hall, D Ward, M Leigertwood — A Riihilahti, B Watson, J McAnuff (sub: M Reich, 90) — M Hughes — A Johnson, C Morrison (sub: T Soares, 73). Substitutes not used: J Speroni, A Popovic, D Freedman. Booked: Hughes.

Referee: P Joslin.