Palace v Albion report

Crystal Palace 1 West Bromwich Albion 1

Albion missed the chance to take top spot in the Championship as they were held to a point by in-form Crystal Palace this afternoon.

Former Birmingham striker Clinton Morrison was the man who pegged back Tony Mowbray's side with a 21st minute equaliser, 13 minutes after Mark Hudson's own goal had put the visitors ahead.

But the Baggies boss will doubtless return home tonight reasonably content with his week's work after seeing his side collect four points from two tough away games.

The Baggies rarely hit the heights today that they reached in defeating Plymouth 2-1 in Devon on Wednesday with Filipe Teixeira and Zoltan Gera far quieter than they were at Home Park.

Neil Warnock's Palace side left with credit too after stifling an Albion team that the Palace manager had hailed before the game as by far the best in the division.

And only the woodwork came between Czech striker Roman Bednar and a second match winning contribution in four days.

Mowbray's side looked reasonably bright in the opening half hour and they deserved their lead although they had to rely on Hudson's moment of misfortune to provide it.

The Palace defender rose to challenge Bednar for Jonathan Greening's cross only to head the ball past his own keeper, Julian Speroni.

The home side offered plenty of threat, largely through direct play and high balls aimed towards the striker's Morrison and James Scowcroft.

And it was from a setpiece that they drew level on 21 minutes although Baggies keeper Dean Kiely was clearly unhappy with his team's defending.

A free kick from the left by Ben Watson was helped on by Jose Fonte and an unmarked Morrison made no mistake.

Albion had to withstand a great deal of Palace pressure in the second half although Mowbray's side ended the game strongly.