Crystal Palace F.C. extended their run of poor form, winning just one of their last 15 matches, after letting a lead slip in a 1-1 draw with Zrinjski in the first leg of their UEFA Conference League play-off tie.

The clash marked Palace’s first-ever European knockout match, and they started brightly. Ismaïla Sarr looked set to give the Eagles an early advantage, breaking behind the Zrinjski defence and forcing goalkeeper Goran Karacic into a fine save. The rebound fell to Adam Wharton, but he fired over.

Sarr was again involved when Palace thought they had opened the scoring later in the first half. The Senegalese winger set up Chris Richards, who kept the ball alive inside the area, only for the assistant referee to flag Richards offside, nullifying the effort.

Zrinjski spent much of the first half soaking up Palace pressure, but the visitors created the clearest opportunity. Mario Cuze nodded a hopeful ball down for Antonio Ivancic, who had the penalty area to himself but inexplicably fired over the bar.

Palace went on to take the lead just before halftime, with a deft lay-off from Jørgen Strand Larsen finding Sarr, who curled the ball into the far corner from the edge of the area.

The lead lasted less than 10 minutes after the restart. A loose pass in midfield was seized upon by Leo Mikic, who advanced and set up Karlo Abramovic, whose precise strike found the far corner to level the tie.

Zrinjski came close to taking the lead, as Cuze was clean through on goal, but hesitated and was pressured into missing.

Palace responded late, rattling the crossbar through Wharton and seeing Richards miss an unmarked header from six yards. Matej Sakota then tested Dean Henderson for the hosts, and Palace survived another scare when a Daniel Munoz handball went unpunished after a pitchside VAR review.

Despite a lengthy spell of stoppage time, neither side could find a winner, leaving the tie finely balanced ahead of next week’s second leg at Selhurst Park.