Last-gasp Saints keep hopes alive

Crystal Palace 2 Southampton 2

The battle to escape the relegation trap door remains impossibly tight after Crystal Palace and Southampton shared the points in a frenzied, ill-tempered showdown at Selhurst Park.

Both sides must now win next weekend – against Charlton and Manchester United respectively – to stand any chance of retaining their Barclays Premiership status. Even then, with Norwich having beaten Birmingham today, survival is far from guaranteed.

It was heartbreak for Palace who had been just two minutes away from victory when Danny Higginbotham popped up unmarked at the far post two minutes into stoppage time.

Southampton striker Peter Crouch and Palace defender Gonzalo Sorondo were both sent off after a mass second-half brawl forced burly security guards to rush onto the field of play.

At that stage the score was locked at a goal apiece after Fitz Hall’s opener and Crouch’s penalty, inside a minute at the end of the first half, sparked the game into life.

With both sides reduced to 10 men play opened up and it was Palace, roared on by a packed home crowd, who made all the running. Nicola Ventola popped up to give his side what appeared to be the winner but Higginbotham had other ideas.

If ever there was a game when the result counted for everything and style for nothing, this was it. The opening half hour was scrappy, niggly and indicative of the gut-wrenching tension of the occasion.

Southampton were relying on long balls aimed either at the 6ft 7in Crouch or in behind the defender for the quick Henri Camara to chase onto.

The tactic caused Palace some early discomfort. Tony Popovic was caught out by Camara’s pace and Crouch then got the better of Hall but fired an acrobatic volley harmlessly over the bar.

Taking a different route forward, Olivier Bernard skipped down the left wing and cut the ball back for Matt Oakley who was unmarked 12 yards out but missed his kick completely.

The midfield exchanges were fierce and physical and it was something of a surprise that it took 25 minutes for the first booking, when Andrew Johnson was penalised for a late challenge on Oakley.

Palace were restricted to long-range drives until Tom Soares charged 30 yards forward to the edge of the Southampton area and, after a quick interchange of passes, he was barged over by Graeme Le Saux.

Danny Granville attempted to hit the ball on the turn but did not quite catch it properly and Wayne Routledge’s drive from the rebound was blocked by Antti Niemi.

They finally broke the deadlock after half an hour and it was Hall, praised so highly by Dowie in midweek, who stepped up to curl the ball past Niemi.

After Crouch had been penalised for a foul in midfield, the free-kick was floated towards Johnson and fell to Hall who hit the ball on the turn for only his second Palace goal since joining from Southampton.

But all of Palace’s close calls inside their own area came back to haunt them less than a minute later when Popovic was penalised for handball as Camara attempted to lift the ball over him.

Crouch, after an interminable wait, stepped up to convert the penalty low and to the keeper’s right.

The scores were level again but the game had been sparked into life. Nigel Quashie drove the ball just wide from 30 yards for Southampton and Michael Hughes then forced Niemi to tip the ball over for a Palace corner with a wonderful left-footed strike from distance.

Palace began to control proceedings immediately after the interval, but could not force the opening.

Routledge beat three men but was shepherded into the corner. Hughes then sparked nother attack but it took an age before Palace could work the ball into the box and Soares eventually fired wide.

Routledge and Johnson got in each others’ way onto a ball into the middle as Palace began to dictate proceedings.

But all the while Crouch was becoming increasingly frustrated by the close attention he was receiving from the Palace defence. He had already had a word with the referee when he lashed out after a challenge from Popovic. Le Saux steamed in and the incident sparked the ugly all-in brawl.

Le Saux escaped any punishment but the end result was red cards for both Crouch and Palace defender Gonzalo Sorondo.

Le Saux was replaced by Rory Delap and left the field with boos ringing in his ears while Dowie introduced Ventola up front alongside Johnson and Ben Watson in midfield.

Ventola, having scuffed one effort, made a swift impact by escaping the off-side trap and latching onto Soares’ long ball to fire Palace back into the lead.

Selhurst Park erupted. Johnson and Routledge then began to cut loose, taking full advantage of the space on offer but neither could manufacture a third goal and it proved costly.

Two minutes into injury time Kevin Phillips squared the ball to Higginbotham who was waiting unmarked at the far post and he slotted home the equaliser.