Crystal Palace needed two penalty kicks and extra time to see off a tenacious Shrewsbury Town side 4-1 in the second round of the League Cup this evening.
Palace had an early opportunity to press their opponents from a free kick in the fifth minute, but Joe Ledley's effort posed no threat to Jayson Leutwiler in the Shrews goal.
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Shrewsbury took a shock lead with the first chance of the evening, Matt Tootle doing the damage from close range after being teed up by Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro in the ninth minute.
Palace almost registered an immediate response straight after the restart as Dwight Gayle's cross narrowly averted the head of Wilfried Zaha in front of goal.
It took the Eagles until the 41st minute to equalise, Zaha drawing a foul in the penalty area before Gayle stepped up to slot home from 12 yards.
Palace ended the half on the front foot as Zaha crashed an effort against the post minutes before the whistle, the attack stopping in its tracks as an offside flag went up.
Chances were at a premium in the opening stages of the second half, but Palace threatened again in the 59th minute as Zaha burst into the area and picked out Patrick Bamford in a good position, but the Chelsea loanee could only fire over.
Alan Pardew's side had opportunities to wrap the game up in normal time, with Zaha running the length of the pitch in the 80th minute before firing wide, and Gayle testing Leutwiler with a powerful free kick moments later.
Gale came even closer to putting the match to bed in stoppage time when he struck the crossbar from outside the box, but the Shrews held on to force extra time.
The Eagles took control of the match in extra time, taking the lead through another penalty in the 95th minute, which Glenn Murray earned after Mat Sadler tripped him in the box.
Murray stepped up and buried the spot kick himself before Lee Chung-yong smashed home a Gayle cut-back two minutes later to give Palace a two-goal cushion.
They put their inclusion in the third-round draw beyond doubt in the 114th minute when Zaha added his name to the scoresheet by heading in Pape Souare's measured cross from close range.
Mark Langshaw
