Eagles held by draw experts

Despite shuffling his pack for the second successive game, Crystal Palace boss Iain Dowie was no nearer to finding the solution to ending the Eagles inconsistent form as his side were held by draw specialists Wolves last Saturday.

As well as making four changes from the disappointing display against Millwall, Dowie also tinkered with the formation to fit in messieurs Andrew Johnson, Dougie Freedman and the recalled Clinton Morrison into a three-pronged attack.

But frustratingly for the Palace boss his frontman were once again not given the adequate service to really test the longevity of the experiment, as his midfield three of Michael Hughes, Ben Watson and Tom Soares were quickly hounded down by their Wolves counterparts whenever they were in possession.

The Palace boss maintained he was pleased with his side's efforts after the game, but admitted that little bit of luck is currently taking a time-out at Selhurst Park.

Dowie said: "We moved the ball around well but I cannot understand the goal we conceded because it was a cross that eluded everyone.

"It was a little bit of fortune on their part and that's the way it is happening at the moment.

"But Wolves are a very good side with outstanding players. It was a good game and I though we edged it and for long periods we dominated the game.

"We should have got we deserved with a penalty at the end."

The Eagles made arguably the brightest start to a Championship game all season and raced out of the blocks, with Watson having the first effort of the game when his 20 yard volley was tipped over by Wolves keeper Stefan Postma.

Johnson looked bright in his second start since returning from injury and he tried to test Postma with a low shot follwing a mazy run which went just wide of the post.

Palace by this stage were dominating possession, but in keeping with the Eagles recent luck, it was Wolves who took the lead with a fortuitous goal.

Striker Ki-Hyeon Seol found room on the right-hand side of the Palace box and whipped in a low cross which evaded everyone and somehow found it's way past an unsighted Julian Speroni into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.

The goal rocked the Eagles and heads appeared to drop, which were made worse by the increased groaning from the Selhurst Park ground that met every loss of possession in a messy period of the game.

Johnson then caught a glimpse of goal in the 19th minute when he got on the end of Morrison's near post cross but he couldn't direct his effort on target under pressure from Ioan Ganea Speroni then made the save of the match when he tipped Kenny Miller's swerving effort over after being initially wrong-footed.

But just before the break, Andrew Johnson bagged his first league goal since September when he slotted past Postma after some neat footwork just inside the Wolves box to give the Eagles a boost going into half-time.

If Palace just about shaved it in terms of chances in the first half, the second period belonged to Wolves.

On-loan England U21 midfielder Tom Huddlestone started the onslaught when he hit a shot just wide, before Speroni brilliantly tipped over Mark Kennedy's right-footed effort .

When Speroni was eventually beaten, he was saved by the crossbar when Darren Andreton's expert chip hit the woodwork and the rebound was pounced on by Miller who flashed over what was the best chance of the second half.

Jon Macken was then brought on for Freedman to give the Palace attack more of a physical edge, just before Watson had a goalbound effort deflected wide.

Then came what Dowie believed was the defining moment of the game when Johnson had a penalty appeal turned down eight minutes from time.

A long ball over the top sparked a race between Ganea and Johnson, which the Wolves defender initially won, but in his attempts to walk the ball away from danger he fell, but got his body in the way of Johnson and the ball in time for Postma to collect. Despite lengthy appeals, the referee was right not to award the spot-kick much to the frustration of Johnson and Dowie, who saw their side slip further behind runaway leaders Reading and Sheffield United.