Cadogan denies Sky Blues

Kieron Cadogan marked his debut with a late equaliser to earn Crystal Palace a 1-1 draw with Coventry.

The teenage winger climbed off the bench to find the net 18 minutes from time and cancel out Aron Gunnarsson's opener just past the half-hour mark.

Gunnarsson wasted two other good opportunities to give Coventry the win and he was made to pay when Cadogan grabbed a point for Palace.

With both teams lagging behind the play-off pace and well out of harm's way at the other end, there was little riding on the match.

The battle to finish 12th had certainly not caught the imagination of the South London public with a crowd of just 12,898 turning out.

Sky Blues frontman Clinton Morrison, who made 300 appearances and scored 113 goals for Palace, was at least eager to make an impression against his old club and was afforded a warm welcome by the supporters.

Any goodwill was soon forgotten, though, when he was clattered into the advertising hoardings by former team-mate Jose Fonte.

Coventry created the better early chances, with Freddy Eastwood's lofted pass sending Gunnarsson scampering through in the second minute, only for Julian Speroni to block his near-post effort.

Morrison should have done better when he met Daniel Fox's chip into the area but he scuffed his volley, and Eastwood forced Speroni into a diving save with a shot from the edge of the area.

Breakthrough

The breakthrough came in the 31st minute when Isaac Osbourne crossed from the right and Gunnarsson rose to plant a powerful header past Speroni for his second goal of the season.

The goal woke Palace up, though, and Morrison blocked Neil Danns' effort on the goal-line before Anthony Stokes rifled in a fierce 25-yard shot which forced a superb fingertip save from Keiren Westwood.

After the break Gunnarsson fluffed two great chances to put the game to bed.

First he skied his shot from eight yards, and then he touched the ball past the grounded Speroni but too close to Lee Hills, who cleared from under the crossbar for Palace.

Rewarded

Eagles boss Neil Warnock turned to Cadogan on the hour and was rewarded when City defender Ben Turner let Moses' pass run past him, not realising the 18-year-old was waiting to pounce.

Cadogan skipped past Westwood and rolled the ball into the net for a debut to remember.

Palace skipper Shaun Derry was inches from winning the game with a rasping drive which flew just wide.