Crystal Palace 1 Doncaster Rovers 1: Doncaster secure point but still slide to bottom

Rovers were staring at a fourth straight defeat after Jermaine Easter’s first goal since Christmas put Crystal Palace ahead.

But Brown, who has missed most of the season through injury, swept in a leveller for the strugglers just four minutes after going on.

However, a point was far from ideal for either side as Portsmouth climbed above Rovers at the bottom while Palace’s already slim play-off hopes suffered another dent.

Dean Saunders’s side had started brightly and went close early on through Fabien Robert and Frederic Piquionne.

Palace’s cause was not helped by losing two centre-halves to injury in the opening 25 minutes, with Paul McShane and then his replacement Anthony Gardner both limping out of the action.

It was Palace who almost took the lead before the interval when Wilfried Zaha’s low cross found substitute Glenn Murray, whose first-time shot forced a fine point-blank save from Carl Ikeme.

Palace did go ahead 12 minutes after the break when 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 made an immediate impact. In the 76th minute El-Hadji Diouf’s cross was only half-cleared by Nathaniel Clyne, Piquionne headed the ball back into the area and, while Paddy McCarthy dithered, Brown crashed the ball in.

Crystal Palace: Speroni, Clyne, McCarthy, McShane (Gardner 6), Moxey, Zaha, Williams (Ambrose 80),Dikgacoi,O’Keefe, Easter, Martin, Gardner (Murray 24). Unused substitutes: Price, Pedroza.

Doncaster Rovers: Ikeme, Chimbonda (Friend 36), Beye, Lockwood, Ilunga, Robert (Barnes 72),Gillett,Keegan (Brown 73),Oster,Diouf, Piquionne. Unused substitutes: Bennett,Coppinger.

Referee: D Deadman (Cambridgeshire).