Peter Taylor was disappointed and surprised with the Crystal Palace boo-boys after his side's 1-1 draw with Coventry City.

Leon Best's late equaliser broke Eagles hearts after Stuart Green gave the home side a deserved lead in a match that marked the return of Iain Dowie to Selhurst Park since his acrimonious split and highly publicised court proceedings with Simon Jordan this summer.

Taylor's side trudged of the Selhurst Park pitch to a chorus of boos, despite putting in a much improved performance compared to their previous three outings.

And under pressure boss Peter Taylor has revealed his anguish at the Palace faithful's reaction after the final whistle on Tuesday night.

He said: "I was disappointed with the reaction, simply because of the performance.

"If it had been a poor performance and we'd conceded a late goal then I can understand that.

"But the supporters have seen the players put a good shift in so I was disappointed and surprised about that.

He added: "But all supporters want to win matches and if the team haven't won, and not won at home, I totally accept that."

And in all fairness to Taylor the glowing reference of his side's performance against the Sky Blue's was warranted.

Taylor sprang two surprises before the game by recalling Ben Watson, who recovered enough from an ankle injury, while Dougie Freedman was handed his first league start of the season.

Loan signings Paul Dickov and Besian Idrizaj both dropped to the bench - but there was no place in the 16 for Clinton Morrison.

After the game Taylor said the striker was not suffering from an injury and was just left out of the squad - but insisted the 99 goal hitman had taken his exclusion professionally.

However, the Republic of Ireland striker is understood to be angered by the decision.

But Taylor will feel vindicated in his team changes after having the better of the opening period with Freedman and James Scowcroft both missing golden opportunities to open the scoring.

Former Palace striker Leon McKenzie twice went close with headers before Green calmly rolled the ball past Demitrious Konstantpoulos in the City goal after good work from Freedman on 26 minutes to give the Eagles a deserved lead.

Freedman was a handful all night and Arjan de Zeeuw, Elliott Ward and Michael Doyle were all cautioned before the break for clumsy challenges on the former Scottish international.

Coventry came back into the game after the break and went close with an agile McKenzie effort and a Dele Adebola header.

But Palace continued to look potent and Green, Mark Hudson and Carl Fletcher missed decent chances to put the game to bed.

And Taylor's side were punished for their inadequacies in front of the goal - when Leon Best pounced on a poor clearance by Leon Cort to fire past Speroni on 87 minutes.

Freedman nearly nicked the three points a minute before stoppage time - but his delicate effort from six yards went agonisingly wide in another frustrating 90 minutes for Palace.