CRYSTAL Palace picked up a valuable point on the road this afternoon with a 1-1 draw at Swansea City.
The Eagles move up on to 13 points in the Premier League and two outside the bottom three after Queens Park Rangers beat Leicester City.
Palace boss Neil Warnock described the Swans as the best side he's seen this season during the week, and it was an exhilarating start from the hosts in the opening 15 minutes with some impressive play.
And the pressure paid off when Wilfried Bony gave them the lead, only for Eagles skipper Mile Jedinak to quieten the natives with a penalty after Marouane Chamakh had been felled.
Swansea thought they should have had a penalty after four minutes when left-back Neil Taylor went down under pressure from Joel Ward, but referee Martin Atkinson wasn't convinced.
The in-form Wilfried Bony then glanced a header wide from Jefferson Montero's delivery, before Marouane Chamakh was somehow lucky to escape a booking after giving away a foul and slamming the ball down in front of Atkinson.
From the free-kick, Gylfi Sigurdsson curled inches over and on top of the net, with some home fans thinking it had crept in.
There was no let-up from the hosts as Montero got the better of Ward on the left and found Bony, who skied his first time effort over.
And then a mistake on the left by Martin Kelly allowed former Eagle Wayne Routledge in, finding Bony, but the ball evaded him by a yard and Palace escaped.
However, the pressure finally told as the Ivory Coast hitman opened the scoring moments later.
Receiving a ball into feet from Sigurdsson just inside the box, he quickly turned Brede Hangeland and stretched to plant a shot into the bottom corner.
And things went from bad to worse as Palace striker Dwight Gayle was forced off with what looked like an ankle injury and was replaced by midfielder James McArthur, as boss Neil Warnock reverted to a 4-5-1 formation.
Despite Swansea's dominance, Palace found themselves back on level terms against the run of play after they won their first couple of corners.
Following the second one, Swansea failed to clear properly and McArthur's pass found Chamakh six yards out and he was bundled to the floor by Jonjo Shelvey, giving Atkinson an easy decision to award a penalty.
And up-stepped Mile Jedinak to power home the equaliser.
It breathed life into Palace as they went looking for a second, with Chamakh desperately unlucky not to score from close range, denied by Fabianski point-blank from several yards.
Palace's in-form winger Yannick Bolasie then went for a speculative shot from out wide and it clipped the top of the crossbar with Fabianski back peddling.
Chamakh was having a mixed day, however. Despite his good work to win the penalty, he was walking a fine line with referee Atkinson, who gave him a yellow card just before the break.
And then he hand-balled a cross from the right on the edge of the area, with Shelvey poking the delivery wide.
The former Charlton man then should have put the hosts ahead. After Bolasie went on a storming run down the left to find Chamakh, the striker lost the ball and Swansea went back up the other end.
A great cross came in from the right to find Shelvey completely unmarked in acres of space at the back post, but he placed wide.
Jedinak forced a low stop from Fabianski at the start of the second half, before Bolasie's goal-bound effort deflected wide.
Shelvey saw a volley saved by Speroni as the Swans looked to get a grip on proceedings, and just past the hour-mark the shot-stopper was called upon again, this time getting down low to his right to deny Sigurdsson.
Fraizer Campbell then came on for Chamakh as Warnock looked for a fresh pair of legs.
In an end-to-end contest, Jedinak floated a free-kick towards Scott Dann, and the centre-back headed across goal only for Swansea to clear for a corner.
Bolasie scuffed an effort from range so wide that it went out for a free-kick with 20 minutes remaining, and then Sigurdsson was close a lot closer at the other end, shooting inches wide with Speroni beaten.
Wilfried Zaha entered the fray for Puncheon with eight minutes to go, but it was the home side who were enjoying most of the possession in Palace's half.
With four minutes added on and both sides tiring, Bolasie had the best chance but shot over the bar from the edge of the box after working some space in front of him.
And that proved to be the final piece of action in south Wales, with Palace picking up a decent point on their travels.
Palace: Speroni, Kelly, Ward, Dann, Hangeland, Jedinak (C), Ledley, Puncheon (Zaha 82), Bolasie, Chamakh (Campbell 66), Gayle (McArthur 21).
Subs Not Used: Hennessey, Fryers, Bannan, Thomas.
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Attendance: 20,240
By Mark Ritson at the Liberty Stadium
