Crystal Palace finally earned their first point of 2016 thanks to Scott Dann's second-half goal, giving them a 1-1 draw at Swansea City.
Palace were forced to make changes to their lineup due to injuries picked up by Jason Puncheon and James McArthur against Bournemouth on Monday, and the latter looks likely to miss the rest of the season.
The better news for Palace was that Yohan Cabaye returned from injury and replaced McArthur, while Jordon Mutch replaced Puncheon. Emmanuel Adebayor also made his first start following his debut as a substitution against Bournemouth. Youngsters Hiram Boateng and Sullay Kaikai were named on the substitutes bench.
Palace suffer setback as Sigurdsson puts Swansea in front
Swansea enjoyed the best of the early exchanges and took a deserved lead after twelve minutes when Adebayor conceded a free kick on the edge of the box. Gylfi Sigurdsson curled a well-placed effort around the wall and into the corner of Wayne Hennessey's goal.
Alan Pardew's side responded well to the early setback and almost scored just four minutes after going behind through Adebayor, but the striker's header from Cabaye's delivery just evaded the crossbar.
Swansea had two chances to double their lead in quick succession; firstly through Andre Ayew who found himself in space at the back post but failed to convert Sigurdsson's corner. Former-Palace winger Wayne Routledge then went close with a curling effort that went wide of Hennessey's post.
Scott Dann almost found an equaliser just before half-time but he powerfully headed Joel Ward's free kick just wide of goal.
Another Dann goal earns Palace a point
Dann finally got himself on the scoresheet two minutes into the second-half with his second goal in as many games. Damien Delaney managed to head across goal from a corner, and Dann was on hand to prod the ball into the goal from inside the six-yard box.
The goal gave Palace some much-needed momentum and Adebayor went close again when he received a wonderful flick by Wilfried Zaha, but was thwarted in front of goal.
Palace finally have an academy debutant in the league
Hiram Boateng became the first player from the academy to make their league debut in over four years when he replaced Cabaye on 70 minutes, and the 20-year-old received a huge ovation from the Palace fans. The youngster then came agonisingly close to giving Palace the lead five minutes after his introduction when he hit a beautiful drive towards goal, but the ball skimmed past the post.
Palace deserved the point with a much-improved performance that could give Pardew's team momentum to turn their fortunes around. The Eagles face Watford at Selhurst Park next Saturday.