CHRISTIAN BENTEKE had an injury-time penalty saved after Jermain Defoe ended one of the longest goal droughts of his career to damage struggling Palace’s recent revival.
The veteran England international struck his first goal in almost three months when he swept home Andrew Surman’s 11th minute cross from a cleverly-worked corner routine.
But if that one was a goal straight from the training ground, there was nothing rehearsed about his stunning second, smashed over the head of keeper Julian Speroni from an almost impossible angle in first-half stoppage time.
Defoe, 35, has been struggling to make much of an impact since his free transfer from Sunderland to Bournemouth in the summer.
But there is nothing like a game against Crystal Palace to get his predatory instincts working again.
For Defoe now has nine Premier League goal against the Eagles, more than any other player has ever managed against the South Londoners.
And his return to form only heaped further misery onto Palace striker Christian Benteke, who is still waiting for his first goal of the season and looks desperately short of confidence.
The powerful Belgian had plenty of opportunities to make his mark but never seriously threatened the Bournemouth goal and once again relied on his team-mates to dig him out of trouble.
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Palace equalised with a controversial 41st minute penalty when Wilfried Zaha went down in the area after prodding the ball past the diving Asmir Begovic.
Furious Bournemouth argued that Zaha had dragged his trailing leg to instigate contact with the keeper and the FA review panel could yet look at the incident again to see if there was an argument for Zaha deceiving the match officials.
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But the controversy did nothing to distract Luka Milivojevic, who smashed his spot-kick past the fuming Begovic to level things up.
And three minutes later Palace were ahead when substitute Scott Dann dived in to convert Yohan Cabaye’s low cross to the back post.
But their lead lasted just three minutes before Defoe’s moment of magic and as hard as they tried to get the winner they needed to ease their relegation fears, the third goal just would not come.
To make matters worse for Palace, they lost skipper Mamadou Sakho midway through the first-half when the powerful centre-half suffered a calf strain which is likely to rule him out of Tuesday’s home game against Watford.
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But that pain would have been forgotten if Benteke had managed to keep his cool from 12 yards in injury time.
Charlie Daniels was punished for a sliding challenge on Wilfried Zaha, but the big Belgian fluffed his opportunity to be the hero as his casual penalty was saved by Asmir Begovic.
The result leaves Palace bottom of the table and two points from safety, while Bournemouth stay in 14th spot, three points above the drop zone.
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