Palace make point at toothless Magpies

Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer scratches his head. Crystal Palace kept their hopes alive of staying in the Premiership with a 0-0 draw against a weakened Newcastle side.

Crystal Palace kept their hopes alive of staying in the Premiership with a 0-0 draw against a weakened Newcastle side.

The draw - only Palace's fourth away point from the last 36 - wasn't enough to keep them above the drop zone as Southampton's 4-3 victory over Norwich saw them join Palace on 31 points but with a marginally better goal difference.

Newcastle - who had nine players out injured - dominated the first-half with Alan Shearer forcing Gabor Kiraly into two smart saves inside the first 10 minutes.

Palace's only effort on goal came from leading scorer Andy Johnson - who has been linked with a move to the Magpies - but his volley in the 15th minute went wide of Shay Given's goal.

In a fairly innocuous affair Newcastle went to sleep for a while before peppering the visitors' goal midway though the first-half but the closest they came to breaking the deadlock was through James Milner but the former Leeds player was again saved by the imperious Kiraly.

Palace at least forced Given to make a couple of saves in the second-half from Tony Popovic's header from a corner and a Danny Granville header which the Ireland 'keeper held comfortably.

The hosts rarely threatened and only Darren Ambrose with a volley caused Kiraly any alarm in the second-half in which a lot of home fans left early as Newcastle's winless run in the Premiership was extended to six.