But they found Barnsley, slightly worse off than Palace, soft opponents and first-half goals from James Scowcroft and Clinton Morrison saw Taylor's side clinch the three points without too much bother.
Indeed on-loan keeper from Everton Iain Turner had an easy time, apart from dealing with a couple of crosses which he had to stretch to punch away.
Martin Devaney fired wide when in a good position and Paul Heckingbottom should have done better in the second half but shot recklessly over the bar. That was the best that Barnsley could muster.
The Eagles didn't have to up the tempo too much to earn the three points.
The first goal came on 16 minutes from Mark Kennedy's free-kick which was floated perfectly into the goalmouth.
The Tykes had real difficulty in clearing the ball as Darren Ward had a stab at goal. But the ball struck Scowcroft on its way towards goal and the Palace forward then turned to steer the ball past Nick Colgan.
It was a scrappy goal but the second effort 16 minutes later stemmed from a great run by Tom Soares.
The young midfielder started from the halfway line and floated past two defenders before letting fly from 15 yards out. Colgan did well to save his effort but the ball bounced kindly into the path of Morrison who simply stooped low to head into the empty net.
Palace were coasting in the second half as they took their foot off the pedal. Barnsley in turn had a useful spell in terms of possession but Turner did not have one shot to save in the entire match.
Crystal Palace lie 20th in the Championship with 21 points from 18 games, 6 points above Barnsley who lie 23rd with 15 points from 18 games.