JOACHIM ANDERSEN’S EQUALISER secured Crystal Palace a 1-1 draw against unbeaten Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium.
A first-half stunner from Kevin Schade gave the Bees an early lead before Andersen levelled in the 76th minute, with Ireland defender Nathan Collins at fault.
After a dominant 3-0 win away at Fulham last week, Thomas Frank’s men failed to put the game to bed which allowed the Eagles to claim a point in west London.
After a quiet start from both sides, Palace burst into life through the creative Eberechi Eze. The midfielder, recently linked with a move to Manchester City, hustled to win back the ball before feeding the marauding Odsonne Edouard who was dispossessed before testing Mark Flekken.
But it was the Bees who struck first in the 18th minute.
Schade picked up the ball on the left hand side before driving at the Palace backline and producing a spectacular curled strike into Sam Johnstone’s top-left corner, recording his first goal for the club.
Not long after, the heavens opened and the greasy surface favoured the elegant Mathias Jansen who sprayed the ball into attacking areas before a 38th-minute header from Yoane Wissa sailed over the bar.
Palace had looked flat all game and it was clear their only hope was through the dangerous Eze, who after 54 minutes slalomed his way through a wall of home defenders before being denied a penalty by referee Peter Bankes when he was brought down.
Soon after Edouard’s dipping free-kick tested Flekken, who was forced to make a stretched save to deny the striker.
And the Dutch keeper’s heroics continued in the following sequence when he denied Jefferson Lerma’s header from close range before Brentford scrambled to block Jordan Ayew’s rebound.
Palace’s persistence was rewarded 14 minutes from time.
Andersen played a one-two with Ayew before driving into the box where he beat Flekken to the ball with his sliding effort, with Collins failing to clear the danger.
Brentford searched for a winner during five minutes added time but the Bees struggled to find the final pass.
Elsewhere, Wolves substitute Sasa Kalajdzic scored a late winner two minutes after coming off the bench as Everton manager Sean Dyche’s decision to turn to some new faces produced a depressingly-familiar outcome.
The Toffees dominated this Premier League match – having 15 shots – but remain goalless and pointless in the 270 minutes they have played so far this season as the visitors scored with their only effort on target in the 87th minute.
Fans streaming out of Goodison had seen it all before as recently as a fortnight ago when a similar performance against Fulham also saw them lose 1-0 as they endured their worst start to a season since 1990-91.
But the supporters in old gold did not care as they headed back down the M6 celebrating their first win of the campaign – secured by a player making only his third appearance after rupturing his ACL in his first match last season – and their third in succession at Goodison Park for the first time.
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