Palace picked up a point on the road at Turf Moor, in a closely contested encounter with Burnley in the Championship. In truth, either side could have come away with all three points as chances were created at both ends of the pitch with Palace perhaps finishing the stronger.

Clinton Morrison had given the Eagles a first half lead with his ninth goal of the campaign, only to see former Palace hitman Ade Akinbiyi head the hosts level just before the break and the second half turned into a real war of attrition with both teams chasing the points for varying reasons.

There was a surprise on the team sheet to start with, as Palace brought Lewwis Spence into the starting line-up for his full League debut whilst Matt Lawrence was passed fit to play at left-back in place of the injured Gary Borrowdale.

Palace started well too and had a good chance after just eight minutes, when Dougie Freedman chased down John McGreal's mis-directed header back to Danny Coyne. The Burnley keeper succeeded in preventing the ball rolling out for a corner, but in the process palmed it straight to James Scowcroft whose centre was finally headed clear by McGreal.

It was Palace who took the lead in the 16th minute when Gabor Kiraly launched a long kick forward and when Morrison outpaced both Michael Duff and McGreal and onto the ball, he headed over Coyne and into the goal.

At the other end, Kiraly had to make a good save after 35 minutes when Akinbiyi powered a shot at goal from the angle only for the Hungarian to save one handed at the expense of a corner.

The equaliser arrived shortly after that though, when Michael Duff's cross from the right picked out Akinbiyi and he nodded firmly home into the bottom corner with just over five minutes remaining in the first half

That prompted the Clarets into their best spell of the first half and the Eagles came under pressure for the first time, with Leon Cort and Danny Butterfield both forced into some well timed clearances.

Only seconds after the re-start, Kiraly had to make a smart save to deny Andy Gray who fired in a shot from the edge of the area after a neat turn to shake off Mark Hudson.

Akinbiyi then missed a fantastic chance to put his side ahead when Jon Harley's high cross into the area found him totally unmarked just seven yards out but his header lacked power and was directed straight at Kiraly who made the save.

Harley then flashed a low ball across the face of Palace's goal as the home side began to pile on the pressure in search of a second goal.

After 63 minutes, Akinbiyi had another half chance when Duff's pass forward send him through on the left channel but he hesitated to shoot and his cross-shot found nobody at the far post.

Palace introduced Lewis Grabban to the action shortly after, as he replaced Freedman up front to inject some extra pace to the side for the remaining 30 minutes.

It was Burnley who continued to press though, with both Gray and Akinbiyi within inches of reaching Harley's knock back into the danger zone from a Wade Elliott cross in the 70th minute.

Palace, with Ben Watson also introduced by this stage, continued to play some decent football though and Grabban had a good opportunity when he beat the offside trap to race onto Hudson's pass forward but he directed his shot wide of the post.

Morrison then came close after turning in the box from Scowcroft's cross, but his shot went just wide before Tom Soares saw an 88th minute curler go narrowly over with Coyne beaten.

With the game heading into stoppage time, Scowcroft headed over the bar from Watson's corner and that proved to be the last chance of the game with the four minutes of added time proving uneventful as both teams had to settle for a single point.

Burnley: Coyne, Harley, McGreal, Duff, O'Connor, Gray (Garreth O'Connor, 88) Elliott, McCann (Jones, 80) Akinbiyi, Caldwell, Gudjonsson. Subs: Djemba-Djemba, Spicer, Foster.

Palace: Kiraly, Lawrence, Hudson, Cort, Scowcroft, Freedman (Grabban, 64) Morrison, Butterfield, Fletcher (c), Spence (Watson, 66) Subs: Ward, Speroni, Martin.

Bookings: Joey Gudjonsson (74 minutes), Ben Watson (83 minutes), James O'Connor (86 minutes).

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