Blackburn Rovers 0 Crystal Palace 0

Gabor Kiraly saved Palace's blushes at Selhurst Park on Saturday with a string of fine saves to deny Blackburn in a bore draw at Selhurst Park.

The 28-year-old Hungarian denied Mark Hughes' men just before the break to preserve Palace's clean sheet, but his contribution was slightly overshadowed by the late scuffle involving both sets of players, following David Thompson's petulant kick at Wayne Andrews.

But apart from his keeper, Iain Dowie could take few plus-points from the game, as once again an alarming lack of imagination and support for Andy Johnson was evident.

A disgruntled Dowie said: "It was poor today, very poor. We didn't get anywhere near the level we're capable of, we didn't have enough rotation or enough zip to our passing.

"We looked very edgy and very nervous because I know that we've passed the ball very well at times this year and we didn't do that today."

Paul Dickov missed Rovers' best opportunity to go in front, when he evaded Danny Granville after a knock down by Bothroyd, but his shot was superbly blocked by Kiraly.

Kiraly was then called into action 10 minutes later, when he made a superb double save, first denying a Bothroyd shot and then Reid on the rebound.

Rovers defender Craig Short saw his volley blocked by the Hungarian just before the break after he connected with a Reid corner.

The second half showed a slight improvement from Palace, as Dowie tinkered with his much maligned 4-5-1, by bringing on debutante Wayne Andrews for Aki Riihilati to play alongside Johnson in a 4-4-2.

In the 62nd minute Johnson was inches away from putting Palace in front, after a run from just inside the attacking half was capped with a low shot from 20 yards which Friedel tipped on to the post.

Lakis was then brought on for Kolkka, and Torghelle on for Routledge, as Dowie went for the three points, which nearly paid off when Lakis got on the end of a Johnson cross but couldn't find the target.

Torghelle was then booked for an over reaction to a tackle by Craig Short, which was quickly followed by a booking for Thompson who took a swipe at Wayne Andrews after the Palace substitute dispossessed him.

This started the ruckus between both sides, with Fitz Hall and Thompson the main culprits, as the Rovers man was shown a second yellow for his fracas with Hall, who was also booked.