Crystal Palace's fight for Championship survival will go on to the final game of the season and an away fixture at Sheffield Wednesday after being held to a 1-1 draw against West Brom.

Steven Reid had given the home side the lead when he stabbed home a Danny Butterfield cross, but it lasted just four minutes when Gabriel Tamas headed his side back on level terms.

The night took a sour turn though with eight minutes to go when Neil Danns saw red for a headbutt on Graham Dorrans and will now miss the game at Hillsborough.

As the game kicked off the 17, 000 Palace supporters that made it to Selhurst Park were busy creating a fantastic atmosphere, and their barrage of chants were complimented by a sea of red and blue flags waving furiously around the ground.

Palace enjoyed the better of the opening stages despite creating much worthy of note, with a Darren Ambrose cross field ball to the back post that almost picked out Sean Scannell the better of the early exchanges.

The visitors though thought they had stunned the buoyant Selhurst Park crowd on 13 minutes when Simon Cox bundled the ball home six yards out. But it was disallowed when he the linesman had spotted that he used his arm to convert and he rightly flagged to alert the referee.

Four minutes later though Palace got the much needed breakthrough when a brilliant cross from the right was screwed into his own net by Reid. The right back was slightly unfortunate as the ball dropped over Ambrose's head and left him little time to do much else than poke it past Scott Carson.

Unfortunately the lead lasted just four minutes as Gabriel Tamas levelled the scores for West Brom when he managed to get in front of Clint Hill to head the ball high into the net past Julian Speroni.

On the half hour mark the Eagles should have restored the lead when first Neil Danns and then Calvin Andrew both had glorious opportunities to put Palace back in front.

A throw in from the left was not cleared properly by Albion and the ball fell to Johnny Ertl on the edge of the box. The Austrian played a first time left footed ball that fell to Ambrose who then flicked it to an unmarked Danns to fire straight at Carson.

The ball popped back out and bounced off the foot of Jonas Olsson across goal and to the back post where Calvin Andrew was free to head just wide.

But as close as Palace were to extending the lead, Albion were even closer when Graham Dorrans played in a very good ball to Roman Bednar to head onto the cross bar. The ball dropped down to Robert Koren who somehow scooped the ball over the bar from inside the six yard box.

The visitors continued to push and created another good chance only for Speroni to keep his side in the game with a classy save. Chris Brunt picked the ball up on the left, played it into Bednar who turned on a sixpence to play it back to Brunt, but the Palace keeper came out quickly to close down the shot and save with his legs .

Speroni was called into action again on 43 minutes when Dorrans aimed a dipping 30 yard volley to the top corner only to see it pushed over the bar by the fingertips of the Argentine.

Then, a minute into stoppage time, Bednar almost capitalised on a quick through ball from Dorrans as he raced onto it and clipped it past Speroni, who had come a long way, only to see it run wide.

In the opening minutes of the second half Albion continued where they had ended the first and were making the most of the space afforded to them by a deep set of Palace lines.

Cox was almost played through on 46 minutes by a clever clipped ball over the top by Olsson, but the referee flagged for offside even though the replays suggested he was half a yard onside.

But as the half wore on Palace began to settle and began to establish themselves back in the tie. On 57 minutes a driven cross field ball from Ambrose found Scannell on the right wing, his touch took him past Olsson and he then managed to poke the ball back to Ambrose.

The midfielder worked himself some shooting space just inside the box, but with space so tight his eventual shot was tame and Carson could get down to his left to make the save.

As the Eagles pushed forward though they left themselves open for the counter attack, which almost paid off the visitors when a speculative clearance from the back ran all the way through to Bednar.

One on one with Speroni he tried to take it round him, but the Eagles keeper did brilliantly to get his hands down at the striker's feet and knock the ball away from him. The striker then tried to lay the ball across to his supporting team mates but Lawrence managed to get back and clear.

For Palace, all the danger was coming from set pieces with Albion not looking comfortable with crosses into their box. It almost paid off for the Eagles on 63 minutes when Ambrose stood one up to the back post for Paddy McCarthy, but he seemed to take his eye off it at the last second and he headed it agonisingly wide.

Albion had their own chance from a corner a minute later when Tamas headed over, while Chris Brunt broke free through the midfield and, with Lawrence retreating, took it to the edge of the box before forcing Speroni into a save low to his right.

The game threatened to boil over midway through the second half thanks to some suspect play from Albion's left back Olsson, but all it did was to whip up the support and the Eagles players in one move.

Paul Hart threw on Alan Lee on 68 minutes, and the big striker almost managed to have an impact when he squeezed his way through the Baggies' defence and forced Carson into a brilliant one handed save at his near post. From the resulting corner Lawrence headed over the bar.

With the addition of Stern John to the action Palace changed to a 4-3-3 line up which afforded West Brom more space, but it also gave Palace greater attacking threat for the final 13 minutes.

But the visitors almost took advantage when Dorrans had the space on the right to cut in and lay up Marek Cech whose right footed shot was well saved by Speroni, but the ball dropped back to Dorrans and the midfielder screwed it wide .

Then, with eight minutes left, Palace's task was made even harder when Neil Danns saw red for a clash with Dorrans.

The midfielder reacted when the Albion player grabbed him by his shirt collar after Danns had slid in to him with a late challenge. As both players got to their feet Danns aimed a headbutt at Dorrans right in front of Mr Whitestone and there really was no other option but for him to be shown the straight card .

The dismissal carries the added disappointment that he will now miss the Sheffield Wednesday clash at Hillsborough.

As the game entered its final moments the linesman signalled a huge six minutes of stoppage time to reignite the Palace support, and it was almost a case of only one minute needed as John somehow managed to head wide at the back post.

And then drama right at the death when Ambrose saw his shot from outside the box beat Carson but cleared away from inside the six yard box by Cech.

Att: 17, 798

 Matt Lawrence was brought in for the injured Lee Hills and Calvin Andrew took the place of Nick Carle who dropped to the bench.

Crystal Palace: 1. Julian Speroni; 3. Clint Hill; 4. Shaun Derry; 5. Patrick McCarthy; 7. Darren Ambrose; 8. Neil Danns; 14. Sean Scannell (19. Alan Lee, 68); 17. Matt Lawrence (33. Alassane N'Diaye, ); 18. Calvin Andrew, 20. Danny Butterfield; 22. Johnny Ertl (9. Stern John; 77)

Subs: 2. Nathaniel Clyne; 10. Nick Carle; 24. Claude Davis; 35. Charlie Mann

West Brom: 19. Scott Carson, 3. Jonas Olsson (23. Abdoulaye Meite, 78), 4. Marek Cech, 7. Robert Koren (12. Giles Barnes, 71), 9. Roman Bednar, 11. Chris Brunt, 17. Graham Dorrans (27. James Morrison, 85), 21. Yousouff Mulumbu, 26. Gabriel Tamas, 31. Simon Cox, 44. Steven Reid

Subs: 1. Dean Kiely, 2. Joe Mattock, 15. Chris Wood, 41. Sam Mantom

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