By Paul Green at Selhurst Park
OLIVER Glasner couldn’t fault Crystal Palace’s effort in Monday’s 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest at Selhurst Park.
The Eagles broke the deadlock on the hour as Eberechi Eze converted a penalty following a foul by Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels on Tyrick Mitchell.
But the visitors rescued what could be a crucial point to boost their European hopes four minutes later when Murillo applied a deflection to Neco Williams’ shot.
Palace had chances to get their noses back in front, although the SE25 boss denied he was unhappy with what he had witnessed from his charges less than a fortnight ahead of their dream FA Cup final date with Manchester City.
Glasner said: “I think disappointed is the wrong word because I was pleased with the desire to win the game.
“We missed a couple of chances especially at the end, and with a few situations we were unlucky.
“Eze hits the post, there was the offside goal, three injuries or something, a deflected ball next to the post, their goal is a deflected ball into the net.
“We had some games where we were very efficient then we could win and today we were not efficient enough.”
He added: “I was asking them before the game are the players focused and concentrated on the league or was their mind already at Wembley?
“I think the players showed and proved that they are 100 per cent [focused] at Selhurst today and wanted to win this game.
“This gives me confidence for the last few weeks of the season.”
A poor first-half almost sprung into life five minutes before the break as Elliot Anderson hit the side-netting for the visitors and then Dean Henderson stuck out a leg to deny Anthony Elanga.
The second period began brightly as Ismaila Sarr twice went close, first heading just off-target and then being denied by the quick thinking of Sels.
A Forest counter-attack ended with Maxence Lacroix making a crucial block on Chris Wood’s goal-bound shot before Palace were awarded a penalty.
Mitchell looked to have been clearly tripped by Sels, although only the intervention of VAR ensured referee Andy Madley eventually pointed to the spot.
Eze took a couple of steps before placing the penalty just beyond the reach of the Forest keeper, who was also cautioned for his misdemeanour.
However, the advantage lasted just four minutes as the Champions League hopefuls drew level.
Henderson made an excellent save to tip Elanga’s dangerous free-kick behind, but from the resulting corner Williams’ shot took a touch off Murillo on its way into the net.
Eze came close to winning it two minutes from time with a curling effort which beat Sels but hit the crossbar, while Eddie Nketiah had a stoppage-time strike ruled out for offside.
Will Hughes saw a late attempt fly just over with the clock ticking down, but a point apiece was the final outcome from a much more entertaining second half.
Glasner said: “We had great mentality to attack the box because also credit to Nottingham, they defended many situations.
“But we can maybe blame ourselves that the accuracy of the crosses was not on the top level that it needed to be to score or to have more clear finishes.”
Palace cross the river on Sunday to face Tottenham Hotspur at 2.15pm.
