Crystal Palace 4-1 Charlton: Dwight Gayle scores hat-trick as Alou Diarra is sent of for Charlton in south London derby

• Fraizer Campbell opens the scoring at Selhurst Park for Crystal Palace with first goal of the season
• Dwight Gayle scores a hat-trick to finish off 10-man Charlton and takes his Carling Cup tally to four goals
• Naby Sarr pulled one back for Charlton to make it 2-1 before Alou Diarra was sent off and conceded a penalty

By Jack Gaughan for the Daily Mail

Published: 15:48 EST, 23 September 2015 | Updated: 00:38 EST, 24 September 2015

The difference, it transpired, was that extra bit of guile. Wilfried Zaha does not always appear to have it in abundance, but his trickery was to undo Charlton and see Crystal Palace safely through. The Championship doesn’t make them like him.

Selhurst Park had endured a tame south London derby until the winger out-witted left back Morgan Fox, got his head up and found Fraizer Campbell nine yards from goal six minutes after the break.

The striker sorted out his feet and coolly placed past Nick Pope for his first goal since February. There was relief for that after a injury problems and much more for the fact this would not end up as a nasty Capital One Cup shock for Alan Pardew against a club where the ill-feeling is entirely mutual.

Hat-trick hero Dwight Gayle celebrates after his goals were the difference in Crystal Palace's 4-1 victory over Charlton on Wendesday

Fraizer Campbell scored his first goal of the season to open the scoring in the second half in a tightly contested south London derby

Campbell walks off in celebration with strike partner Dwight Gayle who scored a two penalties before firing in his third goal of the night

Zaha had saved this game from itself but the night really belonged to Dwight Gayle, who ended with a hat-trick which will doubtless do him the world of good. Now the trick is to start firing in the Premier League.

‘It was a performance we wanted from the whole team,’ assistant Keith Millen said. ‘As the game went on they got sharper.

‘It was good to see Dwight get some game time. He looked sharp all night. It’s nice to have your centre forwards scoring goals. We need that, we haven’t scored for a couple of games.  

‘We said from day one that we wanted to try and go as far as we could. We’re taking it seriously, it’s been a while since Palace have had a good Cup run.’

Unfortunately, it’s Manchester City away up next.

‘We’ve got to beat them sometime,’ Millen laughed.

Gayle’s first came when Campbell was tripped in the box, dispatching the first of two penalties. 

There had been plenty of endeavour from an extremely young Charlton side. Guy Luzon sent out a team with an average age of just 23 - to also include 34-year-old Alou Diarra - and they fought gallantly, sticking to their task.

That was evident in their response to going two goals down.

Substitute Johann Gudmundsson’s corner was not dealt with by Wayne Hennessey or any of his Palace defenders, with Naby Sarr allowed to stick home a goal back.

From there it was down to Palace’s big players to see this out. Charlton fancied themselves, though. Diarra almost equalised from an identical corner only for Hennessey to scramble clear.

Zaha was the hosts’ only outlet as they struggled to retain possession sufficiently for a nervous spell, although the 22-year-old might not have needed to become so important as the match wore on had he started quite how he finished.

Wilfried Zaha, pictured running with the ball against Charlton, was the star of the show for Crystal Palace and was their only real outlet

Gayle is congratulated by his team-mates Patrick Bamford (left) and Joe Ledley (right) after scoring his second penalty kick

A ball boy hands Crystal Palace striker Gayle the match ball after he completes his hat-trick against Charlton on Wednesday night

Naby Sarr pulls one back for Charlton with a header from a corner to make it 2-1 in Wednesday night's Carling Cup match

Sarr runs to get the ball after scoring against Crystal Palace as Charlton attempted to get back in to the game on Wednesday night

Charlton's French international Alou Diarra was sent off after bringing down Crystal Palace stirker Gayle and giving away a penalty

Firstly Zaha headed over from Chung-yong Lee’s centre after getting his feet in a pickle, before opting to cross for Gayle instead of shooting. Then he laid on for Campbell when the winger might have shot, Campbell’s vicious effort superbly blocked by Diarra.

‘We organised ourselves well,’ Luzon said. ‘We played a lot of young players because we have a lot of injuries. We cannot take risks. It’s not a 4-1 game - we need to be positive.’

But there was no problem for Palace in the end, Gayle was felled by Diarra inside the penalty area, Palace supporters bayed for red and Neil Swarbrick, rather harshly, duly obliged. Gayle didn’t need a second invitation to wrap up their passage into the fourth round for just the second time in 11 years.

Gloss, if this needed it, came moments from time when Gayle stole a march on his marker and nodded past Pope in predatory fashion - his first hat-trick for 13 months.

How important might these goals prove for Gayle? We cannot know now - and yes, there were two penalties - but that the striker is seeing balls hit the back of the net can only be a good for a man who appeared destined to be on his way just weeks ago.