**Crystal Palace 1 Newcastle United 1**
Rewards and diligence may go a long way to assist Crystal Palace as they seek to find a route map out of trouble. And Oliver Glasner insists they should have earned victory amid late drama at Selhurst Park against Newcastle United.
Daniel Munoz's intervention to carve out an equaliser with four minutes of added time at the end of an otherwise forgettable clash with the Magpies helped ease some of the concerns sweeping across this part of south London.
The Colombian earned his moment of dramatic vindication, especially having missed a golden opportunity in the first half for Glasner's side who should have taken the lead.
Courtesy of the late leveller which ultimately favoured the hosts who badly needed a slice of gilded fortune, the Eagles inch out of the bottom three, albeit on goal difference.
If much of their play was a little ragged, their perseverance was admirable, particularly in light of a struggle to score goals at home. And when Newcastle went in front due to luckless Marc Guehi placing the ball into his own net in the 52nd minute, this one appeared to run away from Palace. Apart from an intense ten minute flurry in response, they appeared to have ran out of wind - until Munoz's excellent header to grab a draw.
Perhaps this will be viewed as a contest to trigger a sea change in Palace's fortunes, given how they were rewarded just when it looked like all three points were heading up towards Tyneside.
Still, rather than exuding a sense of relief, Glasner was bullish in his assessment.
"It is not a good result when you see the performance., it was very positive," said the Palace manager.
"I think we deserved more today when you consider how the players played and the chances created. The feeling is that we lost two points today and it was not a lucky draw.
"We performed well in many situations, and the way Daniel scored at the end showed the character of the team. Mentally it was very tough today, especially after going one-nil down against a team like Newcastle."
Glasner received a yellow card as a result of his surprising antics at the climax - sprinting down the touch line to celebrate with the Eagles fans.
"I didn't know I could run that quick", he added. "But that is sport. And the players did everything and left their hearts on the pitch.
"This was a mirror of our season - up and down. We have been very competitive in all our games. Overall we are getting more stable and if we continue like this we will get the points.
"Daniel (Munoz) worked so hard in attacking and defending and it's a little bit better that he got his reward".
As for that gaping chance for Munoz - in the 35th minute the Eagles swept up field with a fine forward pass by Jefferson Lerma - and Ismaila Sarr placed an inviting ball into the path of the onrushing midfielder at the far post, but he could only stretch and agonisingly knock the ball wide.
Seven minutes after the restart, Newcastle went in front, with the help of Guehi.
The England international could only flick into his own net from close range as Palace struggled to clear a well-worked, intricate move from a Magpies' free kick on the right side.
Meanwhile, Ebere Eze was back in the Palace team after injury, but his influence was minimal on a day of plenty of effort by the hosts. The playmaker was eventually replaced by Northern Ireland international Justin Devenny to add some urgency to the engine room, before the reward arrived.
Prior to Palace having their moment, Sarr tested the handling of Newcastle keeper Nick Pope before Jean-Philippe Mateta blazed the ball over from six yards. At that stage it looked like being a bereft day for Glasner's men. However Eddie Howe's outfit, with Dan Burn and Fabian Schar in commanding form at the back, were holding on. Until the Eagles' late flight.
Atoning himself for his earlier abberation, Guehi crossed to the back post where Munoz expertly headed downward and into the net past Pope.
That caution for an elated Glasner illustrated the kind of day where relief was the major currency for Palace in their ongoing Premier League toil.
"It's a devastating blow for us as I thought we were there", admitted Howe afterwards. "We looked a bit low in confidence and losing Alexander Isak (to a first half injury) was a blow.
"We do have players who can score and create. And fully fit strikers who can score cost an extortionate amount of money. I can see why Palace feel they deserved to win the game due to the amount of shots they had. But in the second half we dealt with everything thrown at us until the very end".