Eagles draw blank against QPR

8:08pm Saturday 29th November 2008

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CRYSTAL Palace failed to make it three wins in a row after a 0-0 draw at home to QPR.

The Eagles had been in good form, beating Bristol City and Norwich in the past week, but found it hard to create chances against the visitors, despite long spells of possession.

Craig Beattie had Palace's first chance after four minutes, cutting in from the left but his shot was gathered by Radek Cerny.

QPR responded with a chance of their own four minutes later, whyen Patrick Agyemang cut in from the left and passed to Daniel Parejo, who scuffed his shot wide.

Ben Watson and Nick Carle both came close with long-range efforts, and Paul Ifill forced a decent save from Cerny before the interval.

New QPR boss Paulo Sousa made an attacking substitution at the break, bringing on Heider Helguson in place of Parejo.

With minutes of the restart, debutant Helguson had a golden opportunity to put QPR ahead.

Agyemang forced his way through on goal, and with Julian Speroni rushing out to meet him, the striker slipped the ball to his right.

Helguson, with an open goal in front of him, somehow shot wide from the edge of the area.

Palace were soon under pressure again when a looping cross from Peter Ramage found Dexter Blackstock at the far post, but his lobbed effort went onto the roof of the net.

Neil Warnock's men pressed forward in an attempt to make a breakthrough, and despite the introductions of Shaun Derry and Shefki Kuqi from the bench, clear-cut chances were few and far between.

Beattie's shot in injury time was fumbled by Cerny, but the keeper managed to clear the ball to safety from his area.

Palace looked the better side overall, but had to settle for a point.

The Eagles face a trip to Derby County for their next Championship match.

CRYSTAL PALACE: Speroni; Clyne, Fonte, McCarthy, Hill; Oster, Watson, Carle (Derry 63); Scannell (Griffit 87), Beattie, Ifill (Kuqi 63).

SUBS NOT USED: Lawrence, Moses.

Att: 16,411.