SEVEN minutes from safety.

After 3,413 minutes of Premiership football, Crystal Palace were on course to extend their stay in English football's top flight by at least another season.

But football matches last for 90 minutes, and in the 83rd minute of the Eagles' 38th match Jonathan Fortune headed the goal that consigned them to relegation.

On the final whistle Iain Dowie held his head in his hands as the harsh reality hit home.

So often Palace's inspirational leader this season, for once Dowie's poise perhaps deserted him on this most crucial of occasions.

The decision to throw defender Darren Powell up front and leave Nicola Ventola, a goalscorer the week before, kicking his heels on the bench might haunt the Eagles manager for some time.

Ventola may have made an impact, he may not - we will never know.

What we do know is that Palace's eventful tenure in the Premiership was ultimately a brief one.

A draw here was scant reward for the players' efforts, though in truth the fight to remain in the division had perhaps been lost a week earlier.

The psychological impact of Danny Higginbotham's last-minute equaliser for Southampton the previous Saturday was immense.

Dowie had forbidden any negative talk in the week leading up to the Charlton game, but inspirational captain Michael Hughes was honest enough to admit he had not spoken to anyone for two days following the draw with Southampton.

Hughes was again a leading figure on Sunday, charging around the immaculate Valley turf in the manner of a man half his age.

The action off the pitch was almost as intriguing within five minutes of kick-off bogus chants of "Norwich are winning one-nil" rang out from the home support.

It was thus clear from the very start this was to be no ordinary afternoon at the office.

Five minutes later word filtered through that in fact Fulham had taken the lead.

Buoyed by the news the visitors created the first chance of the game, the recalled Dean Kiely diving bravely at the feet of Fitz Hall to deny the imposing centre-half his second crucial goal in as many matches.

That apart chances were few and far between, and at least for the first half an hour or so the game perhaps understandably failed to live up to its pre-match billing.

Extended spells of possession were at a premium, as passes frequently went astray.

Wayne Routledge, almost certainly playing his last match in a Palace shirt, looked lively on the left as did Bryan Hughes for the home side but they were in the minority.

Fittingly the deadlock was broken by Hughes, who ran on to Radostin Kishishev's pinpoint pass before curling the ball beyond the reach of Gabor Kiraly.

Having largely dominated proceedings Palace now looked unsettled, with Hall very nearly turning the ball into his own net on the stroke of half-time.

The first chance of the second period fell to the hitherto anonymous Andrew Johnson, but his scuffed shot hit from a prone position was easily claimed by Kiely.

As the strains of an improvised version of Tony Christie's "Is This the Way to Amarillo" rang around the ground, Dowie reacted by throwing another forward into the fray in the form of Dougie Freedman.

Within the space of 90 seconds the Scot scored his first goal of the season with only his second touch of the game to give his side renewed hope.

But West Brom's first goal against Portsmouth clouded the issue, prompting Palace's fans to implore their team with cries of "We only need one goal".

And on 70 minutes they had it as Andy Johnson bagged his 21st goal of the campaign ten have come from the spot when he converted yet another penalty after Fortune had handled in the box following a mistake from Talal El Karkouri.

In his post-match press conference, in which he declined to be drawn over his future, Iain Dowie argued Fortune should have been punished for his error with an early bath.

In truth a red card might have been harsh, but nowhere near as harsh as the lesson Mikele Leigertwood learned in the 82nd minute.

His rash decision to climb all over Jonatan Johansson gave Jerome Thomas the chance to whip a dangerous ball into the box, and Fortune applied the finishing touch to break Palace hearts and send Addicks fans home with smiles as wide as the Blackwall tunnel.

Player ratings (4-5-1): Kiely 7; Young 6, El Karkouri 5, Fortune 6, Konchesky 6; Johansson 6, Holland 5, Murphy 6, Kishishev 6, Hughes 7; Bartlett 5.

Star man: Dean Kiely.

Player ratings (4-5-1): Kiraly 6; Butterfield 6, Hall 6, Popovic 6, Granville 6; Soares 6, Watson 7, Leigertwood 5, Hughes 7, Routledge 7; Johnson 6.

Star man: Ben Watson.