Van Aanholt gives Palace lifeline win over Boro

Britain Football Soccer - Crystal Palace v Middlesbrough - Premier League - Selhurst Park - 25/2/17 Crystal Palace's Patrick van Aanholt scores their first goal Action Images via Reuters / Matthew Childs Livepic

REUTERS - CRYSTAL PALACE 1 MIDDLESBROUGH 0

Dutchman Patrick van Aanholt scored his first goal for Crystal Palace since his January move from relegation rivals Sunderland to give them a 1-0 home win over Middlesbrough and boost their survival hopes on Saturday.

The left back picked up a loose ball on the edge of the penalty box in the 34th minute and drilled in a right-footed shot, giving Palace their first home win in the league since December and lifting them out of the bottom three.

Palace, who are 17th, climbed level on 22 points with their opponents, who have stretched their winless Premier League run to nine games after being on the back foot for much of a scrappy contest at Selhurst Park.

The result also pushed struggling champions Leicester City -- who sacked manager Claudio Ranieri on Thursday -- into the relegation zone ahead of Monday's home game with Liverpool.

(Writing by Zoran Milosavljevic; Editing by Neville Dalton)