Dougie Freedman's battling bruisers escaped with a point they scarcely deserved from a contest where speculation over the kind of welcome that would be afforded to the former Crystal Palace manager on his return to south London dominated the pre-match niceties.

On a horribly cold afternoon, the Scot who went north a little shy of three months ago received a suitably frosty reception from a 200-strong welcome committee who had assembled 90 minutes before kick-off just so those in it could boo their one-time hero off the Bolton team bus. This diligent persecution of a man who owes his former club nothing was rewarded with a wave. Inside the ground, Palace fans with longer memories greeted a former servant who famously "saved us three times" warmly and he looked genuinely relieved as he acknowledged their applause.

"I thought it was a fantastic reception," he said. "I've worked for this club for a long, long time and it's very close to my heart. I can't sit here and deny that. The fans gave me a fantastic reception and it's made me very proud but I'm committed to Bolton."

On the evidence of this performance, Palace have admirably coped with the shuffling that brought Ian Holloway in as Freedman's replacement. The loanees Jacob Butterfield and Alex Nimely, from Norwich and Manchester City respectively, made their first starts in a line-up who created far more than the visitors over 90 minutes. But in a dreary opening half-hour, it was Bolton who forced more openings: Chris Eagles going close from distance, before Darren Pratley headed high and wide after being teed up by a Tyrone Mears cross from the right.

The match was shocked into something resembling entertainment when, frustrated at having a decidedly optimistic penalty shout for handball ignored, the Palace left-back Dean Moxey brought down Chris Eagles. A scuffle between the pair ensued, with Moxey shown a yellow card and the Bolton winger escaping punishment having already been booked for flinging himself to the ground.

For all Bolton's huffing and puffing, the best chance of the first half fell to Palace. Adam Bogdan could only parry a fizzing Yannick Bolasie drive from 20 yards into the path of Glenn Murray, who pounced only for his effort to be ruled offside.

With each passing game potentially the last Wilfried Zaha will play in a Crystal Palace shirt, the winger had a fairly quiet opening hour, adding comic relief as he bounced off the comparatively gigantic Zat Knight and landed deep in a pitchside pile of snow. But with a quarter of the match to go and Bolton's players tiring, he threatened to run amok, at one point skipping past Jay Spearing and Marcos Alonso with a contemptuous ease that left the double-marking duo resembling a pair of embarrassed training cones.

Zaha could and probably should have broken the deadlock after 69 minutes, but could only hit the post with a low diagonal shot from right to left. From then on he turned provider, jinking down the right and squaring a glorious cross for Murray, who disgusted himself and most of the 17,033 present by shooting wide from 10 yards with the goal at his mercy.

"What a fantastic thing to have in your life!" said Holloway of the huge interest being shown in his star teenager by football's major clubs. But with another high-profile departure from Selhurst Park apparently inevitable, Holloway once again refused to encourage speculation over how long this exciting young player will remain in the lives of his current club's fans.