Burnley 2 Crystal Palace 2

GOALS in the last 23 minutes from Andy Cooke and Andy Payton, from the penalty spot, kept Burnley's Worthington Cup hopes alive.

Palace looked to have earned a comfortable lead to take back to Selhurst Park for next Tuesday night's second leg when a second goal a minute after the break gave them a two-goal cushion.

However, Cooke scored for the second time in four days to make it 2-1 and debutant goalkeeper Nikolas Michopolous then saved a penalty from Fan Zhiyi to keep the Clarets' fightback on track.

And when Burnley were handed a spot-kick themselves for a pull on Payton seven minutes from time, the top-scorer made no mistake to register his fifth goal in the competition this season.

Then in a frantic finale both sides went close to stealing a march in their quest for a place in the third round.

Andy Lingihan headed against a Burnley post in stoppage time but there was still long enough left for Brad Maylett to have a great chance at the other end.

However, the young winger lifted his close-range effort over the top as honours finished even.

Palace had led after 17 minutes when Mikael Forrsell punished an error from Ian Cox to give Michopolous no chance.

The Greek international was beaten again just after the break by Tommy Black's quickly taken free-kick.

But Michopoulos could be pleased with his debut overall as his penalty save and follow-up block from Clinton Morrison paved the way for Payton's late leveller which keeps the tie very much in the balance.

Teams

Burnley: Michopolous, Thomas, Cox, Davis, Cook (Mellon 33), Cooke, Briscoe, Ball, Payton, Branch (Jepson 71), Mullin (Maylett 51). Subs: Maylett, Mellon, Jepson, Lee, Crichton (gk).

Crystal Palace: Kolinko, Austin, Zhiyi, Mullins, McKenzie, Morrison, Black, Forsell (Gray), Linighan, Pollock, Harrison. Subs: Rodger, Gray, Harris, Evans, Hankin.

Attendance: 5,889