One of the Magpies’ big January buys, Townsend earned a second half free kick with a hard dribble down the right side.
He laid claim to the left-footed opportunity himself, and swept it around the wall and into the net for a goal that would hold up to boost the Magpies into 17th.
From the BBC:
“I was going to shoot the other side of the wall, but they had such tall players, that I decided to wrong-foot the keeper and it worked out perfectly.
“The team are buzzing in there, it is a massive three points.
“Palace set up to relegate us, from minute one they were time wasting. Sunderland dropped points which is another bonus for us. We live to fight another day and now we prepare for Villa.”