Dougie Freedman welcomed back captain Paddy McCarthy following suspension and Darren Ambrose came in for Sean Scannell as the team took on a Middlesbrough side who, going into this game, like Palace, hadn't won a league encounter in 2012.

Boro were missing Scott McDonald,who suffered a knee injury in midweek but Kevin Thomson returned from suspension.

The first fifteen minutes saw a couple of corners to the home side with the best chance seeing a header from Tony McMahon saved by Julian Speroni while in that period a shot from outside the box by Mile Jedinak was the best opening for Palace.  

On eighteen minutes a cross by Nathaniel Clyne was met by Wilfried Zaha but his shot was straight at Jason Steele and minutes later Chris Martin saw his header towards goal put out for a corner by Seb Hines.

An Inswinging corner taken from the left by Darren Ambrose after the same player had a free kick deflected out for a corner on 23 minutes found Martin whose shot fronm close range was  Effort on goal by Chris Martin from inside the penalty box went wide of the target.

Five minutes before the break early substitute Malaury Martin saw his shot go wide of the target for the home side from the edge of the box in a rare attack for the home side.

Palace won a late corner in the half as a Martin shot was pushed out for their fourth corner of the half by Jason Steele but the resulting set piece was cleared by Matthew Bates.

The start of the second half saw an early chances from both sides,  Ambrose flashing a shot over the bar and then two minutes into the half Julian Speroni watched a shot from Marvin Emnes go wide of his right hand post.  

On 53 minutes Zaha found himself in space and had a shooting opportunity which he took but the effort was saved by Steele and then Martin was in an offside position when he tried to make the most of the rebound.

Just before the hour mark Palace made appeals for a penalty but referee Mark Heywood only gave a free kick on the edge of the box after a foul on Zaha by Joe Bennett. Ambrose's cross from the resulting set piece was cleared by Thomson.

With eleven minutes remaining Easter was played into the box and he was denied by a save from Steele with Ambrose putting the rebound over the bar from outside the area.

In the closing stages of the game Speroni turns a shot over the bar from Lukas Jutkiewicz after he collects a pass from Justin Hoyte but it was Palace who did the pressing as the game went on and looked the more likely to score in a game which saw Palace pick up their first draw on the road this campaign.