Kamada’s late leveller rescues point for 10-man Crystal Palace and denies Hoffenheim

A late, late strike from Daichi Kamada saved Crystal Palace from embarrassment and another round of navel gazing as they snatched a Europa League draw with Hoffenheim against the odds.

After being outplayed by a side currently in the bottom half of the Bundesliga, and a goal down from the seventh minute, Palace looked to have lost all hope in this fixture when Adam Wharton was dismissed with 13 minutes to go. But after Hoffenheim failed to clear a goalmouth scramble in added time, Kamada fired home under the keeper to generate a rare moment of elation at Selhurst Park this season.

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After the match, the beleaguered Pierre Sage struggled to put a positive gloss on events. Asked if he thought his team had deserved their point, he said it “depended on the moment of the game”, and while he had praise for his side’s attitude he was critical of their tactical performance. “Offensively we did better than our two previous games but we have to continue to improve defensively”, he said. “We gave up too much space to the opponent and sometimes we had difficulty in duels. When we try to attack a little bit we are very quickly open.”

To be fair to Sage, this was an accurate call. Palace were in the match throughout without ever dominating, and Hoffenheim created the best chances in the game without ever having to try too hard. Sitting in 20th place in the Europa League, Palace have work to do in this competition, offering no respite from their Premier League travails as they prepare for a visit from Liverpool on Sunday.

With a tea-time kick-off on Bonfire Night, a family-friendly crowd might have had a right to expect fireworks. Palace set off with intensity but were sloppy too and coughed up an easy opening goal in the game’s early knockings. Wharton gave possession away cheaply about 20 yards from the Hoffenheim goal. There were perhaps just three touches before the ball reached Tim Lemperle wide right, who whipped the ball first time to the advancing Alexander Prass. The winger’s shot was equally immediate and caught Dean Henderson cold, his save too slow, and the ball squirmed through his midriff before rolling over the line.

The Palace support did not moan and got on with backing their side. Sadly the team on the pitch did not respond in desired fashion and Hoffenheim should have scored again through a Andrej Kramaric volley in the 23rd minute, well saved by Henderson on this occasion, before Palace started to work their way into the game.

Fabian Hürzeler saluted a professional performance from Brighton after they beat Getafe 1-0 in the Conference League.

Malick Yalcouyé scored his fourth goal of the season to break the deadlock in a hard-fought encounter in Madrid.

The Seagulls are now the only team not to have conceded a goal in the competition so far and their seven points from three matches leaves them fifth in the table.

“It’s what we expected,” said Hürzeler. “These games in the Conference League are different. You have to beat the low block. We didn’t play our best game, to be fair. But in the end we kept a clean sheet – the fifth clean sheet in a row in this tournament – and then we scored the goal and I think we deserved to win this game.”

The Swiss side Lugano are top of the Conference League, with maximum points after a 3-0 win over Kauno Zalgiris at the AIL Arena.

Panathinaikos beat CSKA Sofia 2-1 to also make it three straight wins, Twente beat 10-man Pafos 3-1 and Monaco saw off Nordsjælland 2-0 to extend their own 100% start.

Ajax ran out 6-1 winners away to 10-man Midtjylland, while a depleted Hearts side lost 3-1 away to Thun in Switzerland.

Yéremy Pino was the focus of the home side’s hopes and he was both Palace’s brightest spark and their greatest frustration. He could find the gaps that no one else could but his delivery was either inaccurate or overcomplicated.

He did at least find the right weight on a through ball to Kamada on the half hour, only for his fellow No 10 in Sage’s system to pull a cross-shot beyond Oliver Baumann’s far post. Hoffenheim had a better opportunity for themselves just before half-time, Ozan Kabak heading over at a corner when unmarked six yards out.

The second half began with another burst of intensity from Palace but it fizzled out again and within 10 minutes Sage had made a double change, pulling Kamada back into midfield and bringing Eddie Nketiah into the front three to strengthen Palace’s finishing options. In the 66th minute Palace created their best chance of the match, when Wharton feigned to shoot from the edge of the box, cut left and slipped in Pino, who looked to shoot over the advancing Baumann only for the keeper to stand his ground and deflect the ball to safety.

You might have thought a rally could spring from there, but no. Hoffenheim soon won a couple of corners on the bounce and killed any momentum for the home side.

Then Wharton got himself sent off, making a poor decision to lead with his elbow in contesting a header. Horatiu Fesnic did not need a second look and despite Wharton’s protestations the referee showed him a second yellow card.

A sense of injustice did at least succeed in inducing some pep into Palace’s performance while Hoffenheim stepped back and sought to run down the clock. Palace created only one opportunity and that was a bit of a mess, but if there was to be respite from their perilous Premier League condition it was going to need a bit of fortune, and Kamada duly seized upon it when it arrived.