Leicester City 1 Crystal Palace 1: Taylor happy to make point

Peter Taylor hardly relishes trips back to the club where his managerial stock took a dive several years ago. But the relief he felt at escaping a bigger assault to his ear drums will be dented by some frustration that Crystal Palace prised only a point from a Leicester City side now unbeaten in seven matches.

On a day of moderate fare for the Walkers Stadium's biggest crowd of the season, it was Palace who were more likely to extract maximum reward. Twice Dougie Freedman was denied by saves at his feet by Conrad Logan with fellow substitute Stuart Green shooting wastefully over from the loose ball after the first occasion.

"It was an improvement," Taylor said. "I'm pleased with the players' togetherness after two poor results because we needed something here."

Leicester's expectations are considerably lower than their opponent's. Their injury problems, even more severe than Robert Kelly disclosed before kick-off, contributed to a nosedive from a decent first-half performance. "I'm not saying the quality of the Championship is increasing but the competitiveness is," he said. "It's a grind and fortunately we have players here who want to work."

No sooner had Palace survived a narrowly off-target shot from Elvis Hammond and a Josh Low header that Gabor Kiraly beat away than they returned the fire to telling effect.

Mark Kennedy's 16th-minute corner from the left was headed against the bar by Leon Cort but Tom Soares drilled home the rebound through a cluster of players. Leicester's woodwork was vibrating again only three minutes later. This time, though, they escaped as Cort's header, with Soares the provider, bounced away to safety.

Iain Hume, scorer of three goals in his team's revitalising wins over Southampton and Leeds United, shot tamely into the side netting from one opening but was less wasteful when provided with the ideal chance nine minutes before the interval. Darren Ward's grab at the turning Hammond was punished by a yellow card and a penalty award, following which the Canadian striker confidently sent Kiraly the wrong way.

In a wayward second half, Hammond sent a 25-yarder wide before a turn and centre by Kennedy left Clinton Morrison furious at having the ball taken off his head by his strike partner Shefki Kuqi.