Workmen were putting up the Christmas lights in Thornton Heath High Street last night and there was more than a hint of goodwill on display at Selhurst Park during a South London derby that was settled by Craig Beattie’s first goal for Crystal Palace.

Alan Pardew, the Charlton Athletic manager, described it as “a hell of a contest at ground level”, but there were no bookings as Palace ran out worthy winners of a game that failed to live up to its X-certificate billing.

“We played with a smile on our faces and we enjoyed it,” Neil Warnock, the Palace manager, said after his team beat their local rivals for the first time in 13 years in the league.

Palace had to wait until the 63rd minute to make the breakthrough, when Beattie, who is on a month-long loan from West Bromwich Albion, got the better of Linvoy Primus in the air after Ben Watson’s raking cross had sliced through the Charlton defence.

Warnock signed Beattie on Thursday after injuries left him without a fit first-team striker. “West Brom have been great to let us have him,” Warnock said. “You don’t get a chance to get Premier League strikers often.”

Palace won the majority of the 50-50 challenges and would have been able to relax in the closing stages if Paul Ifill had remembered to bring his shooting boots. The former Millwall winger’s most shocking miss was a second-half tap-in into an empty net that he managed to miss from five yards.

Charlton players such as Matt Holland and Darren Ambrose have top-flight experience but the best performer on the pitch was Ben Watson, who shaded it from Danny Butterfield and Patrick McCarthy, the Palace defenders. Watson, who is expected to leave Selhurst Park when his contract runs out next summer, caught the eye with his workrate and his set-piece deliveries — a feature of Palace’s game with which Charlton never got to grips. “My players were committed, but I have to find a blend that will win us games,” Pardew said.

Crystal Palace (4-5-1): J Speroni - D Butterfield, P McCarthy, J Fonte, C Hill - P Ifill, B Watson, N Carle (sub: C Fletcher, 82min), S Derry, V Moses (sub: S Scannell, 90) - C Beattie (sub: S Kuqi, 82). Substitutes not used: M Lawrence, J Oster.

Charlton Athletic (4-5-1): N Weaver - M Cranie, M Hudson, L Primus, K Youga - L Sam (sub: Zheng Zhi, 70), D Ambrose (sub: S Todorov, 70), M Holland (sub: A Gray, 70), N Bailey, H Bouazza - L Varney. Substitutes not used: R Elliot, J Semedo.

Referee: M Russell.