Dougie Freedman hailed goalkeeper Julian Speroni as 10-man Crystal Palace held on for a well-earned 1-1 draw against Leeds United to remain within touching distance of the play-off spots in the Championship.

On-loan from Norwich striker Chris Martin opened the scoring for Palace with a drilled effort from outside the area in the sixth minute following good work from Darren Ambrose.

The Eagles had Speroni to thank for keeping them in the lead in the 36th minute when the Argentine pulled off two great saves in quick succession, first from Adam Clayton and then Tom Lees.

Dougie Freedman’s men pressed for a second and should have had it through Martin, but he could only shoot over from inside the box.

As it was the Eagles ended the half on a sour note when Sean Scannell was shown a soft second yellow card for nudging over Danny Pugh from behind.

Palace held firm until the 63rd minute before finally succumbing to a Leeds equaliser, Robert Snodgrass turning home a Ross McCormack cross from the right.

Simon Grayson’s men swept forward looking for the winner but couldn’t break a resolute Palace down.

Freedman refused to use the dismissal of Scannell as the sole reason for the dropping of points and pointed to Speroni's inspired performance.

"A manager's always disappointed with any sending off," he said.

"I felt the decision was made too quickly and looking back was probably not a sending off. It's unfortunate but we didn't use it as an excuse, we don't use excuses around here. We take it on the chin, get on with and gave a fantastic display that got us a point.

"Julian is the best goalkeeper outside the Premier League. It's a shame that he's not playing in the Premier League and getting the plaudits he deserves.

"Hopefully, one day we will give him that football because of the performance levels he's produced over the last couple of years.

"I thought our energy levels, especially after Tuesday night's game, were fantastic.

"I felt we controlled most of the first half which resulted in two or three opportunites and we took one of them to go in at half-time with a deserved lead.

"Unfortunately, the goal set us back mentally and physically but we dug deep and used our experience."