A late header from Muñoz saves Crystal Palace's draw against Newcastle | first division

It was the moment Oliver Glasner had been praying for on an afternoon when nothing seemed to go his way. With Crystal Palace Staring down the barrel of another costly defeat, courtesy of Marc Guéhi's own goal against the club that had tried so hard to sign him in the summer, a late equalizer from Daniel Muñoz changed everything. Glasner was on the touchline, pumping his fists at the home fans in pure delight and, no doubt, relief.

With seconds of injury time left, Newcastle must have thought they had done enough to beat Palace despite failing to get a shot on target. But it was Muñoz, who had somehow managed to miss an opponent when Palace had complete control during the first half, who came to Glasner's rescue when he headed in Guéhi's cross and took Palace out of the bottom three.

“I didn't know he was still that fast,” Glasner said of his Jose Mourinho-style celebration. “The players deserve everything: they left their hearts on the field. It is very important that when you invest so much you get some reward.”

Eddie Howe could have no complaints after a subdued performance from his team after losing Alexander Isak to a hip injury in the first half. Newcastle's inconsistencies were summed up in home defeat against West Ham last Monday and were once again ineffective on offense for much of the game.

“It's an absolutely devastating blow to us because we thought we were there,” Howe said. “We seem a little low on confidence, but losing Alex was a big blow for us. We lacked avant-garde on the front.”

Despite their obvious lack of firepower, Guéhi said this week that Palace are capable of beating anyone at Selhurst Park. However, just as during negotiations for the England defender, when Palace rejected four bids exceeding £65m, both sides appeared reluctant to show their hands during the early exchanges and the result was a messy spectacle.

Returning Eberechi Eze probably should have made more of a lofted ball from Ismaïla Sarr after a quick exchange of passes outside the Newcastle area, but his control failed him and he was largely ineffective before being taken off in the second half.

There was bad news for Howe when Isak was forced to retire after landing awkwardly on his hip following a challenge with Tyrick Mitchell. The Swedish striker tried to continue but had to be replaced by Harvey Barnes. His first tackle was to throw a ball across the goal after leaving Mitchell for dead.

Sarr was unable to beat Nick Pope from close range after an excellent passing play ended with Muñoz picking out the striker. It was the Colombian's turn to change his lines when he managed to miss an open goal after a pass from Sarr after an impressive break in the field that was caused by a nice backheel from Eze. No wonder Glasner looked at the sky in frustration.

It was Howe's turn to show his exasperation at the start of the second half as another promising Newcastle attack failed. But their mood changed when Gordon was brought down by Jefferson Lerma just outside the Palace area and a clever free-kick routine initiated by Lewis Hall ended with Guéhi inadvertently turning a Gordon cross past the stranded Dean Henderson, to clear Palace captain's anguish.

Palace players were outraged when referee Darren England dismissed penalty appeals after Will Hughes' shot appeared to hit Fabian Schär's upper arm. Pope again denied Sarr and needed a heroic block from Dan Burn to prevent Munoz from knocking in the rebound.

There was desperation at Palace as they pushed forward in search of an equaliser. Eze was taken off by Justin Devenny and Pope was again on hand to stop Jean-Philippe Mateta's attempt from a tight angle before the Frenchman fired home from the resulting corner to leave Glasner on his knees. But there was still time for Muñoz to have the last word and relieve some of the pressure on the Palacio coach.