Daichi Kamada proved to be Crystal Palace and Pierre Sage's late hero as his stoppage-time equaliser earned a 1-1 draw with Hoffenheim in the Europa League on Thursday.
Crystal Palace 1-1 Hoffenheim: Kamada's last-gasp leveller saves Sage's skin
Pierre Sage earned a much-needed point in the Europa League as Crystal Palace left it late to snatch a point at home to Hoffenheim.
Sage appeared set for another damaging defeat after Alexander Prass' early goal, with Palace then seeing Adam Wharton receive a red card late into the second half.
But just as all hope was lost, Kamada stepped up in the Eagles' hour of need, squeezing his shot past Oliver Baumann in the 91st minute to snatch Palace a point.
Hoffenheim took the lead at the end of a breathtaking counter-attack in the seventh minute. Tim Lemperle's cross from the right-hand side was struck first time by Prass, whose shot squirmed under Dean Henderson and into the net.
But Henderson atoned for his error to stop Hoffenheim pulling further clear, with the Palace captain producing a superb one-handed stop to keep out Andrej Kramaric's volley.
Kamada then prodded past the right post after being slipped in by Yeremy Pino, with Jean-Philippe Mateta then forcing quickfire saves from Baumann as the Eagles ramped up the pressure in search of an equaliser.
The hosts' momentum continued after the break, but they were almost hit with a sucker punch at the other end, though Fisnik Asllani could only fire just wide of Henderson's left post.
Palace's frustration soon crept in as Wharton, Honest Ahanor, Pino and Eddie Nketiah all picked up bookings in quick succession, but they almost levelled things up in the 67th minute, only for Baumann to thwart Pino's near-post attempt.
However, Palace's hopes of a comeback were dented in the 77th minute when Wharton received his second yellow card for an elbow on Wouter Burger when challenging for the ball in the air, but there was to be late drama.
Oscar Mingueza's cross to the back post was headed into the danger area by Tyrick Mitchell, with Kamada on hand to sweep the ball into the back of the net, though Baumann will feel he should have done better.
Kamada's late heroics sees Hoffenheim's English hoodoo continue
Ahead of kick-off, Sage said he was relishing the chance to compete on multiple fronts after a strong start to their Europa League campaign, but the Frenchman would have been fearing for his job heading into second-half stoppage time.
A fourth defeat in five games may have been the writing on the wall for Sage, whose Palace side face Liverpool on Sunday, but Kamada came up trumps for his boss to ensure Palace remained within touching distance of the top eight in the Europa League.
But there is still plenty of room for improvement. Since beating Lech Poznan 4-0 on MD1, Palace are now winless in their last three Europa League games (D2 L1), going three matches without a win in European competition for the first time, which will not help Sage's cause.
Kamada's strike was Palace's first at Selhurst Park in all competitions since a 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest on October 11, and they struggled once again in the final third here. They finished with an expected goals (xG) total of 1.05 from their 13 attempts.
For Hoffenheim, however, they were left to rue a glorious chance of a second Europa League win of the season. They have now failed to win all six of their games against English sides in Europe (D1 L5), despite scoring at least once in every match (eight for, 14 against).
