Ashley Barnes netted a 74th minute penalty to earn Albion a share of the spoils against arch rivals Palace.

In a highly controversial second half, Palace took the lead when Wilfried Zaha appeared to take a dive over the feet of Will Buckley to earn his side a penalty.

Chris Martin converted the resulting spot kick but justice was done ten minutes later when Buckley went down under the challenge of Nathaniel Clyne and Barnes kept his nerve to slam home his ninth goal of the season.

The draw maintained Albion's unbeaten start to 2012 and once the dust has settled on the game, a point a-piece will probably be seen as a fair result.

On the back of Saturday's Cup win against Newcastle, Albion started confidently and registered their first effort on goal on three minutes when a speculative Barnes lob was tipped over the Palace bar by Julian Speroni.

From the resulting Buckley corner, the ball fell to Alan Navarro on the edge of the box, but his low drive was comfortably held by the Palace keeper.

Albion continued on the front foot with Matt Sparrow breaking from midfield and causing problems, but chances for both teams in the early stages were at a premium.

Hearts were in mouths, however, on 24 minutes when Zaha found space down the right flank but his dangerous cross deep into the six-yard box was headed out for a corner by Lewis Dunk.

The roles were reversed just minutes later when Buckley's low cross from the right was hit first time by Craig Mackail-Smith, but Speroni stuck out a leg to save from point-blank range.

The opening 45 minutes drew to a close with Barnes seeing a close-range drive blocked by Anthony Gardner, while at the other end Zaha's fierce effort was beaten out by Peter Brezovan - but neither side could claim to have the upper hand as referee Stuart Attwell blew for half-time.

The game was lacking the edge and intensity of a derby game but that all changed when Adam El-Abd was booked for a foul on Zaha while the Palace winger also found his way into Attwell's book seconds later following an altercation with Barnes. Brezovan then completed the hat-trick of cards for racing out of his box during the incident as the crowd finally rose from its slumber.

Palace then took the lead in controversial circumstances on 64 minutes when Zaha broke into the box before going down as he skipped past Buckley. Attwell pointed to the spot despite Albion's protestations and Martin converted from the spot.

Sam Vokes then came on for his Albion debut, replacing Mackail-Smith, while Torbjorn Agdestein completed a new-look forward line in place of Sparrow.

Albion, to their credit, kept surging forward and justice was done when Buckley broke down the right flank into the box before going down under the challenge of Clyne. The linesman's flag immediately went up, even if Attwell failed to take immediate action, and Barnes made no mistake with his spot kick.

With their tails up, Poyet's men went in search of the winner and with 90 minutes on the clock, Calderon thought he had grabbed the winner but his stinging 35-yard drive was spectacularly tipped over by Speroni.

TEAMS

Crystal Palace: (4-5-1)Speroni; Clyne, Gardner, McShane, Parr; Scannell (Ambrose 78), Martin (Garvan 90+1), Dikgacoi, Jedinak, Zaha; Easter (Murray 81). Subs: Price (GK), Egan.

Albion: (4-3-3)Brezovan; Calderon, Dunk, Greer, El-Abd; Bridcutt, Navarro, Sparrow (Agdestein 70); Buckley, Mackail-Smith (Vokes 70), Barnes. Subs: Ankergren (GK), Vincelot, Forster-Caskey.

Referee: Stuart Attwell

Attendance: 17,271 (2,693 Albion)

Yellow Cards: Zaha, Jedinak (Crystal Palace); El-Abd, Brezovan, Agdestein (Albion).