Burnley 2, Crystal Palace 2

BURNLEY'S Worthington Cup challenge may not be over after all, and goalkeeper Nikoloas Michopoulos could well be around to see it flourish further.

The goalkeeper's initial one-month contract expires next Monday, the day before the Clarets play Palace in the return leg of their second-round clash at Selhurst Park.

But judging by last night's evidence, he has every chance of being involved again and would appear to fit the bill as the second senior keeper at Turf Moor.

Handed the opportunity to persuade manager Stan Ternent to offer him a longer-term deal, Michopoulos seized the moment.

He made one superb first-half save but reserved his most telling contribution for the sharp end of the match when Burnley's cup hopes were hanging by a thread.

Having just got themselves back in the hunt through Andy Cooke's second goal in four days, the Clarets were again staring down the barrel at a two-goal deficit with just a quarter-of-an-hour to go when Steve Davis tripped Leon McKenzie to concede a penalty.

A successfuly converted spot-kick would have made Palace overwhelming favourites to progress next week but Michopoulos revived Burnley's ambitions at a stroke when he dived to his left to parry Fan Zhiyi's poor penalty.

He also blocked the follow-up from Clinton Morrison and when Andy Payton showed how it should be done eight minutes later to make it 2-2, the force may have switched irreversibly towards Burnley.

It was a dream start for Michopoulos in his effort to make an impact in English football.

The Greek international believes he has what it takes to play over here and he backed up those claims with a solid performance.

The last time Burnley used a foreign goalkeeper in a cup-tie they threw away a two-goal lead to go out of the FA Cup to Darlington as Frank Kval picked the ball out of the net three times. Michopoulos has a far better pedigree, however, and the former PAOK Salonika number one exuded confidence with the way he dealt with high balls into the box.

"He did well didn't he, for a first game," said Burnley's assistant manager Sam Ellis.

Paul Crichton was named among the Burnley substitutes as an insurance policy but Ternent can't have thought about cashing it in, even when Michopoulos was beaten from 25 yards by Tommy Black's quickly taken free-kick 40 seconds into the second half. "I think we were more disappointed at where it came from, rather than the free-kick itself," added Ellis.

McKenzie had stumbled into Kevin Ball to win the decision and Black meted out the punishment as Burnley were busy organising themselves.

McKenzie was also fouled for the crucial penalty but the Clarets could have few complaints about the trip by Davis.

Less obvious was the spot-kick at the other end, given for a tug on Payton's shirt.

However, Burnley were due a change of fortune in the penalty area and referee Mike Dean was adamant.

"If you force your own luck then we did that and we deserved it," reasoned Ellis.

Payton's not the type to pass up those opportunties and he duly helped himself to his fifth goal in the competition as Palace's overseas keeper went the wrong way.

Latvian international Aleksanders Kolinka made one fine save from Cooke in the first half but otherwise had an alarming debut.

He was shocking in the air and was grateful to the referee for penalising Ronnie Jepson and disallowing an equalising goal as he spilled a Lee Briscoe cross onto Cooke's foot.

"I thought the goalkeeper jumped out of his way. Mind you I'd jump out of his way if I saw Ronnie coming," said Ellis.

Another of Palace's foreign imports was a lot more impressive, however. Finnish striker Mikael Forssell gave Burnley a testing time before the break and punished an Ian Cox error to put the visitors ahead.

The Clarets' initial line-up, with a strange deployment of Briscoe, Graham Branch and Paul Cook, gave Palace too much slack going forward and even though the Clarets were equally slick in attack, Ternent quickly changed things round.

Micky Mellon was introduced into central midfield and staked his claim for a return to the starting line-up with an excellent performance.

His prompting from midfield kept Burnley going even when they went 2-0 down and it was a Mellon corner that allowed Cooke to force the ball home from close-in and kick-start the revival.

Michopoulos and Payton kept it going and despite a late scare when Andy Lingihan headed against a post, Burnley could even have earned a lead to take to the capital.

Again Mellon was involved and from his square pass the lively Brad Maylett was given the chance to make a name for himself in injury time.

Unfortunately the youngster lifted his shot over the top but he had played his part in a comeback which makes next week's return to London a potentially lucrative one for the Clarets as the big guns wait in round three.