Crystal Palace 1-1 Doncaster
Last updated on .From the section Football
Doncaster slipped to the bottom of the Championship despite coming from behind to earn a draw at Crystal Palace.
Rovers were staring at a fourth straight defeat after Jermaine Easter put the home side ahead.
But Chris Brown swept in a leveller for the strugglers just four minutes after coming on as a substitute.
A point does little for either as Rovers dropped to bottom spot after Portsmouth's win over Hull, while Palace are now six points off the play-offs.
Doncaster did not start the game like a side battling against the drop as they took the game to their London hosts. However, on-loan West Ham striker Frederic Piquionne spurned a trio of decent chances to give them the lead.
Palace's cause was not helped by early injuries with defender Paul McShane and then his replacement, Anthony Gardner, both limping out of the action within the first 25 minutes.
The home side mustered only one effort of note in the first half but Gardner's replacement Glenn Murray saw his shot saved by Rovers keeper Carl Ikeme.
However, with their first real chance after the break, Palace took the lead as Wilfried Zaha drilled the ball across to leave Easter with a tap-in at the near post.
Rovers sent on Brown and the former Sunderland trainee, who has missed most of the season through injury, made an immediate impact on only his second appearance since August.
El-Hadji Diouf's cross was only half-cleared by Nathaniel Clyne and returned by the head of Piquionne. Palace defender Paddy McCarthy failed to clear and Brown crashed the ball in from close range to earn his side a point.
Crystal Palace manager Dougie Freedman: "We're not strong enough for the play-offs, we are still growing as a club and we will be ready one day - but I don't know when yet.
"When we lost our centre-halves I would probably have taken a point, but when you go one up you expect to win the game.
"However you have to give credit to Doncaster, they dug in and got a point."
Doncaster manager Dean Saunders:
"It is a disappointing result. We could have been 5-0 up after 15 minutes. I lost count of the chances we had.
"But for all the football we played what counts is what happens in each box and we didn't do enough.
"It's about results and we are making it harder for ourselves, that game was there for the taking."
