Crystal Palace secured their first point on the road this season after holding high-flying Cardiff City to a drab 0-0 draw at a rainy Cardiff City Stadium last night.

Palace went into the game with the worst away record in the entire football league but they put in a resilient performance to go some way to making amends for the 5-0 drubbing they received at the hands of Derby County on Saturday.

The visitors were happy to soak up the home side’s pressure for large spells of the game before looking to hit on the break.

Aside from collecting all three points, it was an expert away performance from the Eagles and on another day they might have won.

Manager George Burley made one change to the side which was thrashed at Pride Park as Pablo Counago made his first start of the season.

The Ipswich Town loanee replaced the suspended James Vaughan who was sitting out the first of his three game ban.

However, Burley would have to make two more changes within the space of three first half minutes as Neil Danns and Claude Davis were both forced off.

Burley later confirmed that Dann’s had suffered medial ligament damage while Davis was nursing a back injury.

The enforced substitutions meant Palace altered their shape and Edgar Davids shifted to a holding role while the oncoming Julian Bennett took up Davids’ spot at left back.

Alex Marrow moved to centre back to partner skipper Patrick McCarthy with substitute Andy Dorman taking up Dann’s position in the midfield.

It was while Davis was attempting to shake off his knock that Cardiff were gifted their first and only real opportunity.

The home side’s goalkeeper, Tom Heaton, punted long down field where the chasing Chris Burke pressurised Davis into a woefully short back pass.

Burke was only denied by a point blank save from Julian Speroni as the Argentinean saved with his legs.

The change in personnel arguably improved Palace as Davids and Owen Garvan began to tidy up the midfield.

When Cardiff had the ball the Eagles ensured that they had ten men behind the play before looking to counter when they won back possession.

Wilfried Zaha was the visitor’s main outlet and his direct running was causing Lee Naylor all sorts of problems.

Zaha constantly beat his man before putting in a number of menacing crosses and former Palace stopper Mark Hudson had to be at his best to avert the danger on a number of occasions.

All the Eagles’ play was coming down their right hand side and after half an hour they carved out their best opportunity of the half.

Zaha linked well with Nathaniel Clyne and the young right back’s cross found Owen Garvan unmarked at the back post.

The Irishman rose well but could only divert the ball into Heaton’s hands as he looked to head back across goal.

Burley’s side continued to frustrate their opponents in the second half.

Cardiff lacked sharpness up front with the likes of Craig Bellamy and Michael Chopra injured and Palace dealt comfortably with what the Welsh side had to offer.

The south London team almost went ahead within minutes of the restart when a blocked shot from Garvan fell into Clyne’s path and his excellent 25-yard effort was just tipped round the post by Heaton.

Ten minutes later and Palace again almost took the lead as Counago ghosted in at the back post and met Clyne’s drifted cross with his head.

Only a wonder save from Heaton at his near post could deny the Spaniard a goal on his first league start of the season.

As the game drifted towards full time the away side never looked like conceding.

Indeed, they almost had the final say when Zaha was able to check inside his man to create himself a fine shooting opportunity but his goal-bound effort cannoned off Counago and bounced away from danger.

Although Palace slipped into the bottom three on the back of this result and are still yet to score a goal away from home, it was a far better performance by the Eagles players.