Aston Villa skipper Stilian Petrov headed an equaliser three minutes from time to force a 2-2 draw at Championship side (second division) Crystal Palace in an outstanding FA Cup fifth round tie Sunday.

In earlier action Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur battled to a 1-1 stalemate at the Reebok Stadium after Tom Huddlestone missed a second-half penalty for the visitors.

Fulham though had no trouble easing their way into the last eight for the second successive season, the Premier League side scoring a 4-0 win over Notts County of League Two (fourth division), the lowest ranked club left in the competition.

County’s miserable week, in which they were sold and saw former England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson leave as Director of Football, ended in almost inevitable disappointment as Fulham won with goals from Simon Davies, Bobby Zamora, Damien Duff and substitute Stefano Okaka at Craven Cottage.

Villa appeared set to become the latest big club after Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool to be eliminated when a stunning 30-metre free-kick from Darren Ambrose put Palace 2-1 ahead after 70 minutes.

The south London club, in administration and up for sale, were indebted to goalkeeper Julian Speroni for keeping them in the competition with a series of great saves but he could not stop Petrov’s glancing 87th-minute header which saved the League Cup finalists from elimination.

Johannes Ertl had earlier headed Palace ahead after 24 minutes before Danny Collins scored Villa’s first equaliser 11 minutes later.