Football: Dann stops Palace slide at Swansea

SWANSEA, United Kingdom (AFP) - Scott Dann cancelled out Gylfi Sigurdsson's opener to earn Crystal Palace a morale-boosting 1-1 draw at Swansea and end a run of five consecutive Premier League defeats.

The Liberty Stadium stalemate left Swansea unbeaten in four games under their new head coach Francesco Guidolin with his team remaining in 16th and Palace staying put in 12th.

The in-form Sigurdsson fired the Swans into a 13th minute lead, the Icelandic striker curling a free-kick over the Palace wall and into the bottom right-hand corner of Wayne Hennessey's goal.

This was Sigurdsson's fifth goal in six Premier League outings.

The set-piece was conceded by Palace new recruit Emmanuel Adebayor on his first start.

The lanky Togolese striker was one of three changes made by Alan Pardew - Yohan Cabaye and Jordon Mutch came on in midfield - from the side that lost 2-1 to Bournemouth on Tuesday.

Guidolin made just the one change from the side that drew 1-1 with West Brom in midweek, his Italian compatriot and new signing Alberto Paloschi starting up front in place of Ki Sung-yueng, who had suffered concussion on Tuesday.

Paloschi was at the heart of a move shortly after the opener that almost saw Swansea doubling up when he curled in a cross with Hennessey deflecting the ball to Andre Ayew whose shot was blocked.

On the half hour Ayew had another chance, going close to sliding in the ball off a corner.

Down at the other end the home fans' hearts skipped a collective beat as keeper Lukasz Fabianski narrowly managed to stop a casual back pass from causing serious damage.

Palace came out for the second half staring at a sixth straight League defeat.

But Dann averted that danger in the 47th minute, the centre-back volleying in a corner from close range for the centre-back's fifth goal of the campaign.

There was a sense of deja vu with nine minutes remaining as Sigurdsson curled in another free-kick but this time Hennessey produced a superb save to deny the former Tottenham player.

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