Crystal Palace 2 - West Ham 2: Wilfred Zaha rescues Eagles with precious late equaliser

NO wonder the Palace faithful worship Wilfried Zaha. The fella is simply magic.

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Wilfried Zaha rescued a point for Palace in a sensational display against West Ham

He spent virtually 96 minutes fighting what looked like a lone battle then, with just 60 seconds of added time left, the winger with the box of tricks in his boots cast a spell that produced a precious equaliser. 

The fans sang a rousing chorus of Glad All Over afterward - which is precisely what West Ham weren't.

They have only themselves to blame for surrendering a two goal goal lead and probably understandably tempers boiled over at the end when skipper Mark Noble clashed bitterly with Palace's Yohan Cabaye.

An explosive end to what started like a damp squib.

To be fair West Ham's opener was arguably worth waiting for - a super counter attack that brought a super goal - and sparked something of a renaissance all round.

With Palace back pedalling furiously Andre Ayew sent Aaron Cresswell clear; the wing back's cross was on the button, and Hernandez met it with a clinical finish.

No wonder the Mexican pointed worshipfully to the heavens afterwards because his side needed that all right.

Justification too, you could say, for Slaven Bilic's decision to start with him instead of Andy Carroll, who's very 

What followed 12 minutes later was worth the entrance money on it's own, though- no matter which side you supported.

Ayew picked up the ball  his own half, and the Ghanaian went on a run that left defenders trailing in his wake and ended with a belting ball into the roof of the net.

Palace claimed they should have had a penalty when Timothy Fosu-Mensah went toppling in the box before either of those goals, but truth to tell the Hammers probably deserved their half time lead.

No question about the penalty Palace did get four minutes into the second half, however.

Andros Townsend looked odds on to score before Angelo Ogbonna gave him a reckless push, and Luka Milivojevic said thank you very much with the resulting spot kick.

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Javier Hernandez grabbed the opener for West Ham

To be honest it should have been 2-2 soon afterwards, but with Joe Hart beaten the post denied 

Cabaye an equaliser that would have been almost as eye catching as  Ayew's earlier cracker.

And if the England keeper hadn't produced two more spectacular saves from Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and Cabaye, and the crossbar hadn't denied  Bakary Sako, Palace wouldn't have needed Zaha's dramatic late show.

The expressions on the faces of Roy Hodgson and Slaven Bilic said it all at the end.

Crystal Palace: Speroni 6; Ward 5 (Sako 60), Tomkins 6, Dann 6, van Aanholt 4 (Fosu-Mensah 8) 6; Milivojevic 6; Ruben-Cheek 6, Cabaye, Schlupp 4; Townsend 7, Zaha 8.

West Ham: Hart 8; Fonte 6 (Rice 75), Kouyate 7, Ogbonna 6, Zabaleta 6 (Antonio 61) 6, Fernandes 5, Noble 6, Lanzini 6,  Creswell 6 (Masuaku 45) 6. 

Ayew 7, Hernandez 6.

Star Man: Wilfried Zaha. If Mr Hodgson hasn't phoned his England successor Gareth Southgate about him already, he really ought to now.

Referee: R Madley.

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