Coventry City held on to win 3-1 against promotion rivals Crystal Palace after both teams had been reduced to 10 men at Selhurst Park.

First-half goals from Jay Bothroyd and Marcus Hall gave Coventry a two-goal half-time lead, but Bothroyd went from hero to villain in a 40th-minute confrontation with Palace full-back Danny Granville.

And referee Rob Styles showed both players the red card for violent conduct despite a hail of protests from both sides.

Palace have beaten Coventry only once in 19 attempts at home, a run stretching back to 1958.

That dismal sequence continued, despite Dougie Freedman's second-half goal, when substitute Gary McSheffrey restored their two-goal lead with 16 minutes to play.

Bothroyd stunned the home fans with an outstanding lob from 25 yards to give Coventry the lead after 10 minutes.

He controlled a Lee Carsley header from Marcus Hedman's goal kick and turned unchallenged to lift the ball delicately over Alex Kolinko's outstretched glove.

Hall doubled the Coventry lead after 34 minutes from a Carsley free-kick, letting rip from 25 yards to beat Kolinko despite the Latvian getting a hand to his scorching shot.

And there were angry protests from both sides when Styles showed the red cards shortly before half-time, but Coventry held out to go in two goals up at the break.

It took just 11 minutes for Palace to hit back after the restart when Hayden Mullins stroked a perfectly weighted 40-yard ball over the Coventry defence.

Freedman broke clear of some static marking and controlled the ball in the penalty area to fire past Hedman into the bottom corner for his 17th league goal of the season.

Coventry could have restored their two-goal lead soon afterwards when Lee Fowler robbed Simon Rodger and exchanged passes with Carsley on the edge of the Palace box to fire at Kolinko, but the Latvian saved well with his legs.

The home side were gradually growing in confidence, and Rodger fired a blistering shot off a post in the 70th minute which had Hedman beaten.

But substitute McSheffrey sealed it for the visitors four minutes later with a smart finish from close range.

The youngster collected a long ball from Hedman and stormed on to beat Kolinko for his first senior goal for the club, to make it three wins in eight league games for Coventry.

Teams

Crystal Palace: Kolinko, Smith (Black 64), Mullins, Symons (Rodger 45), Fleming, Riihilahti, Gray, Popovic (Austin 40), Granville, Freedman, Morrison.

Subs Not Used: Kirovski, Clarke.

Sent Off: Granville (41).

Booked: Rodger.

Goals: Freedman 57.

Coventry: Hedman, Hall, Shaw, Breen, Fowler, Carsley, Quinn, Delorge (Davenport 90), Joachim (McSheffrey 60), Healy (Betts 78), Bothroyd.

Subs Not Used: Konjic, Montgomery.

Sent Off: Bothroyd (42).

Booked: Breen, Carsley, Hedman, Fowler.

Goals: Bothroyd 12, Hall 36, McSheffrey 75.

Att: 16,197

Ref: R Styles (Waterlooville).