(Reuters) - Newcastle United earned only their second Premier League point of the season after scraping a 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace as the home side missed several chances and hit the woodwork in a scrappy game on Saturday.
Palace were guilty of poor finishing but Newcastle lacked any cutting edge up front and were fortunate to avoid defeat at Selhurst Park.
The result left Palace 11th on seven points from six games while the Magpies stayed 18th, ahead of bottom sides Cardiff City and Huddersfield Town on goal difference after another lacklustre performance.
Palace have now won only one of their last 16 matches against Newcastle in all competitions, having missed a chance to register a 200th win in the top flight and their 100th in the Premier League.
The home side dominated the opening half and twice came close through captain Luka Milivojevic, who tested Newcastle keeper Martin Dubravka with a curling low shot before his floated free kick came off the woodwork.
Newcastle striker Ayoze Perez directed an acrobatic overhead kick straight an Palace keeper Wayne Hennessey in the second half before Mamadou Sakho missed a sitter at the other end, heading wide from two metres after an Andros Townsend cross.
Milivojevic was upbeat about the home side's performance.
"When you can’t win, don’t lose," he told the BBC.
"We missed many chances. In the first we hit the bar, I think we deserved three points. We played well, were compact, had good organisation, moved the ball quickly.
"But we missed a 100 percent chance. Sakho wanted to do the best, in the end he missed. But okay we drew and will continue to try and improve."
(Writing by Zoran Milosavljevic; Editing by Pritha Sarkar and Ed Osmond)
