Soccer Football - Premier League - Crystal Palace v Nottingham Forest - Selhurst Park, London, Britain - May 28, 2023 Nottingham Forest's Jesse Lingard with teammates during the lap of appreciation after the match Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge
LONDON (Reuters) - Crystal Palace came back from a goal down to earn a 1-1 home draw with Nottingham Forest in both sides' final games of the Premier League season on Sunday.
Will Hughes equalised midway through the second half at Selhurst Park after Taiwo Awoniyi had maintained his rich vein of scoring form by putting the visitors ahead in the 31st minute.
Palace finished the season in 11th place, sparking speculation that 75-year-old caretaker manager Roy Hodgson might be asked to stay for the next campaign.
Forest, who spent more of the season in the relegation places than out of them, finished 16th in the standings with 38 points, but with only eight of them garnered away from home.
Awoniyi ran onto Morgan Gibbs-White’s searching pass to finish with a powerful left-foot shot, after it initially looked as though the chance had gone as the defence caught up with him.
It was his sixth goal in his last four games, which contributed heavily to his club avoiding a last-day battle against relegation.
Palace had several half chances before the goal, the best falling to Eberechi Eze whose 30th-minute effort was goal bound but hit his team mate Jordan Ayew centimetres from the goal line in a fortuitous let off for the visitors.
Relentless second-half pressure ensured an equaliser as Hughes scored his first league goal for Palace with a glancing header from Michael Olise’s cross. It was helped past goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey off the back of defender Willy Boly.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Toby Davis)
