Connor Wickham's double against former club Sunderland was not enough to earn Crystal Palace victory in an entertaining 2-2 draw at the Stadium of Light this evening.
The 22-year-old, who spent four years with the Black Cats before leaving last summer, blasted a quick-fire double in the second half to overturn Dame N'Doye's earlier opener.
Fabio Borini came off the bench to salvage an unlikely point for the hosts, however, ensuring that Palace's winless league streak now stretches to an 11th game.
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A well-contested first half largely centred around two incidents within the space of a few minutes, as Vito Mannone did brilliantly to tip Scott Dann's goal-bound header over the bar just moments before Sunderland opened the scoring.
Dann was again involved, helping N'Doye's strike beyond a helpless Wayne Hennessey with a heavily-deflected attempt to make the breakthrough in the North-East.
It was the forward's sixth Premier League goal, three of which have now come against the Black Cats in recent seasons.
Jermain Defoe, who proved to be the match winner in the reverse fixture, almost doubled his side's advantage soon after when picked out in a good position, but he failed to get the better of Hennessey on this occasion.
The only other talking point of the first half came midway through when Jordon Mutch appeared to be upended by DeAndre Yedlin, only for referee Anthony Taylor to wave away the weak appeals.
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Palace failed to truly get the best out of returning winger Yannick Bolasie - the scorer of an 11-minute hat-trick here last season - while Wilfried Zaha also only had one long-range attempt to his name heading into the second period.
A more fired-up visiting side took just 20 seconds to muster their first chance after the restart, though, as ex-Mackem Wickham headed over when picked out seven yards from goal.
There was to be no denying Wickham on the hour mark, however, as he blasted the ball into the far corner of the net via a small touch off Yedlin to level up the scoreline.
With the match locked at one apiece, Wickham again popped up inside the box to bag his sixth of the season and provide another real blow to his former side in the process.
A Mutch corner was not dealt with by the hosts, and when the ball fell kindly to the unmarked striker just a few yards out he only had one thought in his mind as he rifled it home.
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The second half had largely passed the Black Cats by, with not a single shot on target up until the closing moments as they aimed to salvage at least a point from the match.
Just as the game looked to be out of their reach, and with the home hoards already heading for the exit, substitute Borini picked out the far corner from the tightest of angles to keep Sunderland's survival hopes just about on track.
Sam Allardyce's men climb out of the drop zone on goal difference as a result of the late point, while opponents Palace - still without a win since mid-December - stay in 14th place.
Daniel Lewis
