Tom Ince has vindicated Crystal Palace's frenzied interest in him during the winter transfer period with a brilliant debut on the weekend.
The 21-year old Blackpool winger, who joined on loan on deadline day, was making his Eagles debut when he scored and provided an assist in the 3-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion at Selhurst Park.
In front of the Palace faithful, debutant Ince opened the scoring for Tony Pulis' side when racing onto a ball from Yannick Bolasie to slot home past Baggies keeper Ben Foster with his left foot.
Just before the half-hour mark, Ince turned provider when his inch-perfect inswinging corner from the right was met with a powerful header from Joe Ledley who was signed from Celtic in the winter window.
West Brom new boy Thievy Bifouma, on loan from Espanyol, came off the bench at half-time with immediate impact as he pulled a goal back when playing a one-two with Victor Anichebe to beat Julian Speroni at his near post to make it three debut scorers for the day.
With just over 20 minutes remaining, Palace were handed a penalty when Marouane Chamakh appeared to be brought down in the area by Foster - a questionable call from referee Chris Foy - before the Moroccan striker slotted home from the spot.
After the match, Pulis praised Ince for his debut performance which was made possible by plenty of hard work and determination.
"I think the biggest thing about Tom if you look at what he did today was actually his work and the way he did all the unglamorous stuff that all good players do," he said.
"Tom took his goal with aplomb. We have been moaning a little bit that we haven't scored enough from set-plays and Joe's header was first-class."
Palace have now won three of their past four outings to move to 14th on the table and three points clear of the drop zone.
