Dann's late header earns Palace draw with Bournemouth

Striker Josh King put Bournemouth ahead with a neat finish after 11 minutes and Palace wasted a great chance to equalise when Yohan Cabaye's penalty was well saved by a diving Artur Boruc.

Bournemouth had chances to extend their lead but Dann rose high to power home Jason Puncheon's cross and secure Palace's first point of the season.

The £27million club-record signing Christian Benteke may have been recruited to add the goals his new team had been missing but it was his half-hearted defending that led to Bournemouth's 11th-minute opening goal.

His casual clearance from Andrew Surman's free-kick only went as far as Harry Arter, who looped a pass to King from where the forward classily chested the ball down before finishing across the face of goal and inside the far left post.

Referee Mike Dean harshly awarded a penalty when Charlie Daniels made slight contact with Benteke in the area, but instead of bringing his team level Yohan Cabaye watched as Artur Boruc dived to his right to save.

Palace remained unconvincing, and were fortunate Bournemouth did not score again before half-time. After playing a one-two with Jordon Ibe, Callum Wilson went one-on-one with goalkeeper Steve Mandanda but saw his hurried shot smothered clear when he should have scored.

Switching from 4-4-2 - perhaps forced on them by the unsettled Wilfried Zaha's selection on the bench - to 4-3-3 in the second half, Palace significantly improved.

First Dann's header was cleared off the line by Arter. Then Cabaye's corner fell to Connor Wickham in space in the area but the striker instead struck beyond the bar.

In pursuit of a much-needed goal, Pardew in the 66th minute brought on Zaha for Wickham and Chung-yong Lee for James McArthur, and the winger's arrival lifted both his team and the crowd, whose warm reception showed no anger at this week's events.

Zaha's width, speed and belief on the right wing stretched Bournemouth's defence, creating several chances. Jason Puncheon had already shot over the crossbar when Zaha combined with Andros Townsend to play in Lee, who similarly shot over.

From another Zaha cross Townsend struck the side netting as Benteke went down and watched his claims for a penalty dismissed.

With five minutes remaining, the winger again broke down the right and again sent a dangerous cross into the penalty area. Lee's shot was impressively saved by Boruc, and Joel Ward threatened with the rebound, but again Bournemouth resisted.

The overdue, equalising goal finally came in the third minute of stoppage time. Amid further pressure, Puncheon crossed to Dann, and the club captain responded by powerfully heading into the back of the net to provide them with a much-needed lift.