Frazier Campbell spares Alan Pardew’s blushes

Crystal Palace 1 Newcastle United 1

Neither Alan Pardew nor the travelling Newcastle support could boast victory in their reunion battle as Crystal Palace came from behind to seal a share of the spoils at Selhurst Park.

The Palace boss brought to an end an often-turbulent five-year spell at St James’ Park to take over in south London at the turn of the year, and the club’s first meeting since then ended in stalemate.

Pardew’s side have made a habit out of falling behind but again showed their resilient nature as Fraizer Campbell came off the bench to earn a well-deserved share of the points for the London side.

Even sweeter

It could have been an even sweeter reunion for Pardew had Brede Hangeland’s late header not been tipped behind by Tim Krul, with Newcastle offering very little in the way of their own attempts to win the game.

Papiss Cissé’s first goal of 2015 had put John Carver’s side in front but the man who worked as Pardew’s assistant did not see his team work Julián Speroni on any other occasion and the Magpies still only have one win since Pardew jumped ship.

The 53-year-old waxed lyrical about his Newcastle tenure in his programme notes and urged the travelling fans to remember the “good times” they enjoyed before the relationship soured.

But the away contingent only had unsavoury songs in store for their previous manager – whose misery was compounded when Cissé rose to head his former employers in front before half-time.

The visitors were largely on the back-foot. But thouth Palace often lacked a killer final ball, the introduction of the returning Yannick Bolasie sparked them into life and he provided the cross for Campbell to turn and fire home the equaliser after 71 minutes.

CRYSTAL PALACE: Speroni, Ward , Hangeland, Delaney , Kelly (Bolasie 68 ), Puncheon , McArthur, Ledley , Zaha , Chamakh (Gayle 66 ), Sanogo (Campbell 26 ) . Subs not used: Mariappa, Bolasie , Campbell, Hennessey, Gayle, Murray, Mutch. Booked: McArthur

NEWCASTLE UNITED: Krul , Janmaat , Williamson , Coloccini , Haidara , Sissoko , Colback, Pérez (Riviere 91 ) , Cabella, (Dummett 86 ), Gouffran , Cissé (Abeid 78 ). Subs not used: Taylor , Anita, Obertan, Riviere, Abeid, Dummett, Woodman . Booked: Janmaat, Colback. Att: 25,118 Ref: Andre Marriner