Lee Morris scored an injury-time equaliser to save the Blades' blushes in a
match that exploded at the death.
Sheffield United had fallen behind to a stunning Gordan Petric goal in the
ninth minute when the former Rangers defender hit a 30-yard effort which crashed
past Alan Kelly.
But Morris was on hand to touch home from four yards after Kevin Miller was
only able to parry Paul Devlin's rocket free-kick.
And to add to Palace's unhappy evening Steve Thomson was sent off in the dying
seconds for picking up two bookings in 60 seconds for kicking the ball away.
It had looked as though the Eagles would hold out for only their third win
since the middle of November as the Blades lacked the ideas needed to crack open
Palace's tight backline.
They took 21 minutes to finally warm Kevin Miller's gloves after Shaun Derry
cut in from the right flank to find space for a shot.
Morris was giving Jamie Smith a torrid time down United's left only to ruin
his good work with a series of poor centres.
When he did come up with the goods
a grateful Marcelo made sure Miller knew he had company as the keeper did well
under pressure.
Palace broke out in the opening seconds of the second half with Clinton
Morrison laying a clever ball into the path of Hayden Mullins only for the
youngster to balloon his effort over the bar.
It was a chance Mullins should have taken as the Blades were soon back on top
and Miller needed to be sharp to pluck Marcelo's 52nd-minute near-post header
out of the air after the striker was first to reach Bobby Ford's cross.
United's top scorer was the biggest threat to Palace's defence and a 69th-minute jinking run took him past Craig Moore and Steve Thomson before he drilled
in a low shot to force Miller into a sharp save.
Steve Coppell's men did break out spasmodically and Petric was unlucky to have
his 20-yard free-kick come back off the bar with Miller well beaten.
Teams
Sheff Utd: Kelly, Derry, Quinn, Woodhouse, Sandford, Holdsworth,
Morris, Hamilton (Twiss 79), Marcelo, Devlin, Ford.
Subs Not Used: Jacobsen, Henry.
Booked: Holdsworth.
Goals: Morris 90.
Crystal Palace: Miller, Smith, Petric, Jihai, Moore, Tuttle,
Foster (Thomson 45), Zhiyi (McKenzie 68), Mullins, Morrison,Rodger.
Subs Not Used: Evans.
Sent Off: Thomson (90).
Booked: Smith, Petric, Thomson.
Goals: Petric 9.
Att: 12,896
Ref: G Laws (Whitley Bay).
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