At 1.32pm, as Rickie Lambert comfortably put the visitors ahead less than two minutes after kick off, with rain pouring down and the sky darkening, it felt like it was going to be one of those days.

One of those miserable, sodden, grey south London afternoons with two local train stations closed for travel chaos and added gloom.

But Palace didn’t let the awful conditions, appalling start or infuriating rail infrastructure dampen spirits for long.

Finally, our forward line seemed to click.

Marouane Chamakh put showed moments of mercurial brilliance; orchestrating the play, holding the ball up, dribbling past players, attempting intelligent through balls and winning all sorts in the air.

I’ve been saying in this column for months that Dwight Gayle deserved a start, and most Palace fans have been arguing that too.

Warnock: Palace should have had more than three against Liverpool

Skipper hails "massive" win as Crystal Palace bury sorry Liverpool

Whether it was down to his performance against Liverpool last year or recent impressive cameo appearances, at last Neil Warnock decided to give it a go.

For the full 90 minutes he played incredibly, electrifyingly well.

The striker’s pace caused Martin Škrtel to commit several unjust fouls and will probably give him nightmares, as Gayle consistently looked to race away from the flat-footed back line, playing off the shoulder of the last defender, speeding into pockets of space and looking both sharp and predatory.

I think it’s time the club admitted we don’t always need a powerhouse up front trying to rescue aimless long balls with brute force.

Just because we can’t use Gayle as a battering ram doesn’t mean we should sacrifice his instinct, pace and natural finishing ability for a more imposing figure.

Besides, with Chamakh up there to challenge for every high pass, Gayle is the ideal candidate to lurk and pounce, with the side moving into a fast, fluid 4-4-2 during attacks.

There is no better centre forward at the club and he proved it this weekend.

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Thorn: Yannick Bolasie cause Liverpool all manner of problems, all afternoon, all of the time

Yannick Bolasie has been hit and miss lately, and I was worried before the game that starting him just days after another outrageously good performance for DR Congo (this time against Sierra Leone) would be pushing the flashy winger to breaking point.

Instead, Bolasie looked spurred on by his two-goal contribution to DR Congo’s African Cup of Nations qualification - and seemed as though he’s finally beginning to master some level of control over his long range drives.

He looked destined to recreate one of the goals he scored in Stade Tata Raphaël four days ago, with a brilliant darting running shot - only it needed Gayle to prod home the rebound.

Liverpool were uninspiring and lacklustre from the equaliser onwards, a few scares aside, but that shouldn’t take away from how remarkably assured and confident Palace looked at times.

If this column was twice as long I might be able to squeeze in the praise that players like Joe Ledley, Scott Dann, Joel Ward and Mile Jedinak deserve.

Why can’t we do this every week?