Chris Iwelumo was the hero as Stoke came from behind to earn a point against Crystal Palace at the Britannia Stadium.

He came off the bench to sweep home James O'Connor's cross five minutes from time, eight minutes after Dele Adebola had put the visitors ahead.

Although Potters manager Steve Cotterill has not seen his side keep a clean sheet since the opening day of the season, he will be relatively pleased to see their unbeaten run extended to five games.

Stoke's chances of registering the victory that would have taken them into the top half of the table were helped by the absence of the suspended Tommy Mooney and Brynjar Gunnarsson for the visitors.

Palace, though, had Curtis Fleming, Andy Johnson and Darren Powell back from injury.

Stoke late show

It was a measure of the lack of cohesion from either side that the most notable feature of a fractious first half was the number of free-kicks conceded.

The crowd were treated to the occasional attempt on goal, Shaun Derry wasting the best early opportunity when he shot straight at Neil Cutler from close range after 15 minutes.

The half was 25 minutes old before the next chance arrived, although Andy Cooke was similarly wasteful, heading over from Wayne Thomas' centre.

Cooke tried his luck from distance as Stoke rallied in the second half, while an audacious volley from Karl Henry reflected his growing influence.

However, the hosts were stunned when Adebola latched on to Dougie Freedman's through-ball, holding off the challenge of Peter Handyside before beating Cutler with a powerful drive.

And it looked like Palace were heading for a first win in five leagues matches until Iwelumo, a 72nd-minute replacement for Cooke, struck.

Stoke: Cutler, Thomas, Shtanuk, Handyside, Clarke, Gudjonsson, Henry, O'Connor, Vandeurzen, Cooke, Hoekstra. Subs: Viander, Iwelumo, Goodfellow, Neal, Marteinsson.

Crystal Palace: Michopoulos, Fleming, Powell, Popovic, Granville, Butterfield, Derry, Mullins, Johnson, Freedman, Adebola. Subs: Cronin, Austin, Black, Gray, Riihilahti.

Referee: M Warren (W Midlands).