Manchester City moved closer to the Division One title as Kevin Horlock's first-half strike gave the Blues a narrow victory over Crystal Palace at Maine Road.

Trevor Francis' team only tested City goalkeeper Carlo Nash once, but the home side's surprising lack of potency restricted them to just one goal in a disappointing clash.

Midfielder Horlock looked to have started yet another rout when he leapt above the Palace defence to head past Matt Clarke with just 10 minutes gone and claim City's 90th goal of the league campaign.

But although Kevin Keegan's side never looked like adding to their lead, the solitary strike was enough to maintain their position at the top of the table.

Palace travelled north without just one win from seven matches and they found themselves under early pressure.

Danny Tiatto pulled a weak shot wide with four minutes gone and moments later Richard Dunne was off target with a low strike from the edge of the box.

But the visitors' resistance did not last long as Keegan's side took an early lead.

Shaun Wright-Phillips swung an excellent cross into the box and Horlock was first to the ball, crashing a header beyond keeper Clarke.

Tiatto then came close with another long-range effort as City threw men forward against a Palace side lacking creation in attack.

But the visitors began to play with confidence and the home side, so impressive in the early stages, were struggling to force a second goal.

Horlock was shown the first yellow card of the match after 33 minutes following a clumsy challenge on Julian Gray, while Aki Riihilahti was cautioned shortly after for bringing down Darren Huckerby.

City continued to dominate after half-time and Ali Benarbia almost doubled their advantage with a brilliant overhead kick which was blocked by Clarke.

Substitute Sun Jihai, who replaced Tiatto at the interval, also threatened but his close-range header was cleared by Hayden Mullins.

Palace threw on striker Ade Akinbiyi in place of Dougie Freedman and the visitors finally created their first opening of the game when Jovan Kirovski fired the ball wide from 20 yards in the 69th minute.

Blues forward Shaun Goater then drove wildly over the bar with 19 minutes left and with time running out Benarbia was booked for time-wasting.

Jon Macken should have sealed the result in the 85th minute with a close-range header which flew off target, but City held on despite a late chance for Stephen Thompson.

Teams:

Man City: Nash, Dunne, Wiekens, Pearce, Wright-Phillips, Benarbia, Horlock, Jensen, Tiatto (Jihai 45), Goater (Macken 72), Huckerby.

Subs Not Used: Royce, Howey, Mettomo.

Booked: Horlock, Jihai, Benarbia.

Goals: Horlock 10.

Crystal Palace: Clarke, Austin, Murphy, Mullins, Smith (Rodger 86), Riihilahti, Thomson, Granville, Gray (Kirovski 45), Freedman (Akinbiyi 58), Morrison.

Subs Not Used: Kolinko, Berhalter.

Booked: Riihilahti, Smith.

Att: 33,637

Ref: M Clattenburg (Cramlington).