Peter Taylor made two changes from the starting team that lost to Plymouth midweek with Ben Watson stepping up from the bench and James Scowcroft returning after injury.

Jay-Jay Okocha returned to first team action for Hull, following a niggling injury, but Tigers boss Phil Brown maybe regretting bringing him back as he left the pitch after just 13 minutes with what looked like a slight injury.

It was the Tigers who had the first real chance of the match after ten minutes when Samuel Ricketts forced Julian Speroni into an excellent one-handed save from 15 yards out.

Ben Watson was handed a yellow card for a no-nonsense tackle on Richard Garcia, but it was the Camberwell midfielder who was at the centre of proceedings for Palace, dictating the forward play for the Eagles.

Hull had the best chance of the match in the 25th minute when midfielder Dean Marney shot from 25 yards, leaving Speroni stranded but seeing his shot hit the bottom of the left-hand post and rebound across the area for Tony Craig to clear to safety.

With 40 minutes on the clock, the crowd erupted at Selhurst as news filtered through that England had beaten Australia in the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup.  On the pitch at Selhurst both teams played out the remaining minutes of an evenly-matched first period.

Peter Taylor replaced Jeff Hughes with David Martin at half time, but it was the former Charlton man Bryan Hughes and league stalwart Dean Windass who caused the Eagles problems with Windass setting up Hughes in the 50th minute, who could only blast over from close range and Hughes returning the favour by setting up Windass who could only head over following his pinpoint cross.

With the game at a stalemate, Peter Taylor brought on Stuart Green for Ben Watson and Clinton Morrison, looking for his 100th goal, for Paul Dickov, who had just been tackled heavily.

A 65th-minute free-kick from Tony Craig saw Leon Cort lose his marker and force a save from the American 'keeper Myhill, but this was all Palace could muster as Tigers boss Brown brought on Scotsman Stephen McPhee, who scored against Charlton midweek.

Myhill was called into action again as Soares tried a speculative shot from 30 yards in the 68th minute which forced the Hull 'keeper down to his right to make the save.  From the resulting corner, Mark Hudson jumped clear of his marker to head over from close range.

The best chance of the match so far came in the 69th minute when Bryan Hughes evaded Stuart Green to curl a right-footed shot that was heading to the top right until Palace 'keeper Speroni made a fingertip save to push the ball over the bar and prevent a certain goal.  Seconds earlier Hudson had smothered another goalbound shot from the boot of McPhee as the Tigers signalled their intent.

However, midfield-man Tom Soares wasn't going to let the Tigers ruin the Palace Family Fun day and his driving run through the heart of the Tigers midfield and defence saw him play in David Martin on the left-wing whose cross found the head of James Scowcroft who scored his fourth goal of the season as he headed into the net in front of a relieved Holmesdale with nine minutes remaining.

Tigers boss Phil Brown introduced Nicky Featherstone for Bryan Hughes, a sub himself early on, as the Tigers pressed for something to take back to Humberside, and in the 87th minute McPhee's shot skewed across the six-yard box, much to the malign of Brown.

However, there was a final twist for the match as with just one minute of normal time remaining, Palace were unable to gain their first clean sheet of the season as big defender Michael Turner went down under a challenge from Mark Hudson and from the resulting penalty, Dean Marney slotted home to make it 1-1 and repeat the scoreline of last season,

Palace: Speroni, Craig, Hudson, Cort, Fletcher (c), Scowcroft, Watson (Green, 61), Soares, Butterfield, Dickov (Morrison, 61), Hughes (Martin, H/T)

Subs not used: Flinders, Lawrence

Bookings: Watson (23)

Hull City: Myhill, Turner, Windass (McPhee, 65), Garcia, Brown (c), Delaney, Pedersen, Ricketts, Marney, Livermore, Okocha (Hughes, 13 (Featherstone, 83))

Subs not used: Duke, Doyle

Goals:

Palace: Scowcroft, 81

Hull CIty: Marney, 89 (pen)

Attendance: 15,769

Referee: Mr. R. Beeby
Assistant Referees: Mr. J. Pearce, Mr. G. Young
4th Official: Mr. S. Child