EAGLES chief Dougie Freedman was left fuming after some "sloppy defending" cost his side the chance of doing the double over arch rivals Brighton & Hove Albion.

Ashley Barnes' penalty 15 minutes from time ensured the points were shared on Tuesday night, and meant Palace were unable to follow up their famous victory at the Amex earlier in the season with another win on home soil.

Earlier Chris Martin's own penalty had given Freedman's side the advantage, but despite having chances to make the game safe, they were pegged back in the final stages and had to settle for a point.

"I think we could have defended it a lot better," admitted Freedman. "It was sloppy on our behalf. We haven't given away goals like that very often since I have been manager and it is a real shame as I thought we were heading for a comfortable victory before that happened."

The Eagles had indeed looked good for the three points after Wilfried Zaha had been tripped in the area by Will Buckley and Martin had smashed the ball home to give his side the lead on 64 minutes.

But despite having looked comfortable at the back all night the visitors levelled after Nathaniel Clyne had tussled with Buckley in his own box and Barnes drilled the spot kick past a desperate Julian Speroni.

The penalty looked a soft decision, although Freedman opted to blame his own team rather than the match officials.

"I don't think it was a penalty but I do believe we gave the referee and the linesman the opportunity to give a free-kick in the box," explained Freedman.

"It's frustrating as we had got ourselves in such a good position, doing what we do best.

"We defended well and broke on them. In the second half at times I thought we were outplaying them and overpowering them and when we got the goal I thought it was going to be our night and we would go on to win convincingly.

"I felt at times Brighton couldn't cope with our forward movement but a bit of sloppy play by a number of players led to a penalty decision. So I'm disappointed because it was in our own hands."

On a bitterly cold January night the Palace fans' hearts would have been warmed by the sight of Clyne and Zaha on the pitch, their mere presence putting to bed any suggestion they would be sold before the transfer window shut at 11pm.

It was a good job too as the football, especially in a dire first half, would give have given the supporters little reason to stamp their feet or jump around.

Predictably, the home side's best moments both involved Zaha. First the talented teenager made a darting run down the wing only to see Buckley head his cross narrowly wide of his own goal, and then had a shot saved by Peter Brezovan shortly before the interval.

The visitors responded with Craig Mackail-Smith having a close-range shot saved by Speroni before Barnes had his shot blocked by Palace's Paul McShane, who scored the winner for Brighton on their last visit to Selhurst six years ago.

After the break, Martin saw a 20-yard shot fly narrowly over the crossbar but made no mistake when he converted the spot-kick following Buckley's blatant foul on Zaha for his ninth goal of the season.

But 10 minutes later, the visitors were handed a penalty when Buckley went down easily and Barnes made no mistake to ensure the points were shared.