Palace End Losing Streak With Draw At Swansea

It seemed all too familiar when, in the 13th minute, Gylfi Sigurdsson netted from a free kick just outside the box. We managed to pull one back through leading goalscorer Scott Dann from a corner but the end result was a valuable point that stopped the five game losing run that extends back to just after Christmas.

Once again the spotlight is on Hennessey after he was arguably unnecessarily beaten by Sigurdsson’s free kick. It was an excellent finish but it shouldn’t have beaten Hennessey and looking back at it he’ll be disappointed. Hennessey made the mistake of taking one step to the right just as Sigurdsson took the set piece and that one small step cost him, he couldn’t get back across to make the save and we find ourselves 1-0 down.

The leveller came through Scott Dann who was once again Palace’s saviour. Saturday’s finish put him joint top of the goal scoring charts in the league on five, shared only with Yohan Cabaye who has the advantage of being our spot-kick taker. His goals alone account for an additional six points this season, without him we’d be sat 16th and just one win off the bottom three which is both concerning and amazing in equal measure considering he is a centre back.

Most of the side were fairly mediocre. Jordan Mutch had a game of two halves, he was all but non-existent in the first half but in the second half he really improved his performance and was excellent. Zaha was again very good, Adebayor’s performance was encouraging although he still doesn’t look match sharp. Scott Dann was solid in defence as well as chipping in with a goal however Pape Souare struggled as has been struggling for a while defensively - he was miles away from the Swansea right midfielder in the build up to the first goal. The alternative to Pape is Martin Kelly and although Kelly may be more defensively astute he offers considerably less of a threat going forward and the fact we are struggling for goals may ensure Pape’s continued selection for the time being.

All that being said a draw against a resurgent Swansea side has served to stop the rot of the last 5 games. We are still not playing at anywhere near the level at which a fully fit, high on confidence Palace side is capable but yesterday’s draw is a point gained in a very poor run. There will again be discussions about Hennessey’s place in the side after Sigurdsson’s goal but I’d imagine that he’ll keep his place for the foreseeable future at the very least. Next up is Watford who are down as low as 10th and just one point ahead of Palace after a few losses since the turn of the year but they won’t roll over easily at Selhurst Park. If we can snatch a win from somewhere, anywhere, then that would do the confidence of the team (and the fans) a world of good and can hopefully give us the boost we need to return to something resembling form.