Crystal Palace 0 Brighton 0: match report Palace manager Ian Holloway said: "They'll be happy with it being level. But I thought we finished the game quite strongly. Now we've got to go there, and they'll have to watch us, because we're not bad at counter-attacking." ­ Wilfried Zaha still feels like the man most likely to decide the tie. He was sung raucously off the pitch at the end of his last match at Selhurst Park before a £10 million move to Manchester United, having given Palace three wonderful seasons. After a quiet first half on the right, Holloway switched him to the left, and he promptly exploded into life. Sir Alex ­Ferguson's final signing will surely provide the great man with a fitting legacy. But how the 20-year-old Zaha will miss nights like this: the ruggedness of the Holmesdale End roar; the raw, manly honesty of the football; the flailing limbs and eyeball-to-eyeball stares. If the fluorescent belt of police surrounding the Brighton section was not enough of a clue that this was a special occasion, then the four walls of noise were a dead giveaway. A feral howl ­welcomed the teams; a cheer greeted every won header and contested tackle, the sort of din that makes a player's legs feel just a little lighter. "The emotion on that bench," the impressed Holloway said. If I had any hairs on the back of my head, they'd all be stuck up. Brighton began the fleeter of foot, Andrea Orlandi and Wayne Bridge combining sweetly on the left, Will Buckley chasing down everything on the right. First Orlandi headed wide from six yards; then Dean Hammond's nodded effort from about the same distance was brilliantly parried by Julián Speroni. Palace were relieved to go to the break level. But Holloway's tactical switch paid immediate dividends. Chances flowed: Danny Gabbidon's header that Orlandi cleared off the line, was the best of them. But just as Palace were beginning to build momentum, Murray's injury whipped the wind from their sails. As he swivelled in the penalty area to gather a high ball, his knee failed to turn with him. The sight of Murray crumpling to the ground in agony was chilling. A little of the sting went out of the game after that. Who was ahead in the tie? Holloway fixed your intrepid cub reporter with an incredulous stare. "That's a silly ­question," he said. It's 0-0, young man. An immaculate summary, for nobody - old or young - will be prepared to call this one just yet. Match details: Crystal Palace (4-2-3-1): Speroni; Ward, Gabbidon, Delaney, Moxey; Jedinak, Dikgacoi; Zaha, Garvan (Phillips 86), Williams (Bolasie 76); Murray (Wilbraham 67). Subs: Price, Ramage, Moritz, O'Keefe. Booked: Jedinak Brighton (4-1-2-3): Kuszczak; Calderon, Greer, Upson, Bridge; Bridcutt; Hammond, Lopez; Buckley (LuaLua 73), Ulloa, Orlandi (Orlandi 87). Subs: Ankergren, El-Abd, Painter, Crofts, Vicente, Barnes. Booked: Calderon, Kuszczak Referee: M Oliver (Northumberland).