Eager Eagles earn their spurs

The Eagles hitman notched his 10th Premiership goal of the season after an instinctive turn and shot from 25 yards out which crept passed Spurs and England keeper Paul Robinson.

Delighted Palace boss Iain Dowie was full of praise for the 23-year-old striker: "People talk about Ruud van Nistelrooy, Wayne Rooney and Thierry Henry, but I believe Andy Johnson is up there with them.

"He had an opportunity in the first half which he would have expected to convert but he came back in the right fashion and produced a great strike."

A point was the least Palace deserved, as it looked like another good performance would go without reward when Jermain Defoe fired Spurs into a 53rd minute lead.

But Dowie can be rightly happy with his side's performance as from the off Palace were in the ascendancy, with Hall and Sorondo marshalling the defence in expert fashion.

Danny Butterfield started the Palace onslaught with a fine run and cross which just alluded Tom Soares, deputising for the rested Ben Watson.

Minutes later Johnson had the ball in the Spurs net only for it to be ruled out for offside, which was shortly followed by a dangerous Lakis cross which both Johnson and Riihilati were unable to reach.

After Kanoute tested Kiraly for the first time with two long range efforts, Johnson missed a guilt- edged chance to put Palace ahead just before the break when he found space just outside the six-yard box but his shot was superbly kept out by Robinson.

But after withstanding Palace's first half domination, Spurs mounted a spell of pressure of their own, and after Kiraly tipped Defoe's shot round the post in the 52nd minute, the Spurs striker made no mistake a minute later when he cut in from the left and fired a superb low shot off Kiraly's left hand post and into the net.

After remaining tight for the next 10 minutes, Dowie brought on Sandor Torghelle to partner Johnson up front, which gave the diminutive frontman more freedom and he made Spurs pay, rifling in a 25-yard snap shot to give Palace a point.

MATCH STATS
MAN OF THE MATCH Gonzalo Sorondo Iain Dowie couldn't wait for the Uraguan to return from a recent spell on the sidelines and you can see why with another superb performance. He's good on the ball and tough in the tackle, plus he's striking up a promising partnership with Fitz Hall. Class act.
PALACE: Kiraly 7, Butterfield 7, Hall 8, Sorondo 9, Granville 7, Routledge 7 (Torghelle 67 6), Soares 7, Riihilahti 7, Hughes 8, Lakis 7, Johnson 8. Subs not used: Speroni, Andrews, Leigertwood, Boyce. Spurs PALACE 14 On Target 7 3 Off Target 4 10 Fouls 15 1 Yellow Cards 1 0 Red Cards 0