An incredible last-minute miss by Aston Villa’s Ian Taylor let FA Cup semi-finalists Crystal Palace off the hook in a dour relegation dog fight at Selhurst Park last night. Taylor, who would already spurned two golden chances to effectively seal Villa’s premiership survival, skied Andy Townsend cross over the bar from just three yards out. The draw moved fourth bottom Palace to within a point of Everton on whom they have a game in hand. Brian Little’s Villa moved into the top half of the table thanks to the point but have now won just one of their last seven games. They had more than enough chances to win but had to endure. Dalian Atkinson, starting only his second game since the end of November had a great opportunity after 20 minutes. Whilst Captain Steve Staunton proved an inspirational figure before he left limped off after 72 minutes.