In the end, Oliver Glasner’s polite and generous welcome back to Selhurst Park lasted just over an hour. Long enough for Crystal Palace fans to acknowledge their thanks for all the memories and long enough, crucially, to feel they had victory in the bag.

‘Glasner, what’s the score,’ they chimed after Yeremy Pino added Palace’s third, and again late on, in this chaotic and frequently mind-boggling contest that, quite frankly, could have been anything.

Forest should have been 4-0 up, then could have been 4-1 down and, in the final frantic throes could even have snatched a point.

‘You’re getting sacked in the morning,’ the Palace fans added with relish. Revenge, as they say, is sweet.

If anything, it took much longer than expected for Glasner, the man who switched south London for the same Forest side who took their place in the Europa League, to feel the brunt of the bitterness between these two new-found, unlikely rivals.

Crystal Palace clinched their first win of the season against Nottingham Forest on Sunday

Crystal Palace star Jefferson Lerma celebrates after hosts took a surprise lead

He’d been applauded off the team bus, posed for selfies with young Palace fans, and was warmly clapped as he strolled along the touchline to the dugout.

Glasner escaped the greetings saved for the absent Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis, who is suing Palace for a banner their fans unfurled on their previous visit showing him holding a gun to Morgan Gibb-White head. ‘Did the fat man pay you off,’ they sung to referee Peter Bankes when he turned down Palace penalty appeals.

Forest gift Palace their revenge

More than anything, though, Glasner will leave scratching his head wondering how on earth his return ended without a win. He should have had the three points tucked under his famous knitted jumper long before Daichi Kamada, Jefferson Lerma and Pino turned the game on its head.

After Dan Ndoye’s opener after just three minutes, pouncing on a terrible headed back pass by Anan Khalaili, Forest just kept missing chances.

Gibbs-White hit the bar, then the post. Murillo had a header saved. Former Palace wing-back Daniel Munoz fired an unmarked volley wide from close-range. Ndoye had another effort saved, drilled another over the bar and another into the side-netting. And we’ve not even got to Liam Delap yet.

Even at 3-1, with the chants now ringing in Glasner’s ears, Forest created enough to come away with a point or even more. At the final count, they mustered 24 shots to Palace’s 13 but only made one of them count.

Former Crystal Palace manager Glasner was returning to Selhurst Park for the first time since his exit in the summer

Palace paper over cracks as pressure lifts further on Sage

Another huge sigh of relief for Pierre Sage. Before the international break, murmurs and whispers were already drifting over how long Glasner’s successor would be given and whether he would become the first managerial casualty of the season.

A draw at Leeds before the international break lifted the pressure and a spirited fight back here, a victory that moves Palace up to 12th, will give Sage even more breathing room.

But Page’s side cannot keep defending like this. There were huge concerns among the Palace hierarchy about the openness at the back that saw them concede 11 goals in their opening four games and they were back on display here.

Time after time, Leeds left Forest players completely unmarked at corners or at the back post. No composure at clearing their lines and, were it not for Walter Benitez in goal and Forest’s wastefulness, could have been a very different story. Other teams will not be so forgiving.

Daichi Kamada scores past Matz Sels to equalise for Palace during a sluggish first half

Delap fluffs his line

Forest’s desperate need for a striker to succeed Chris Wood has long been obvious but Delap’s arrival, for an eye-watering £50m from Chelsea despite scoring just one league goal last season, was supposed to fill the gap and provide the future.

Delap opened his account in a win at Aston Villa last month but should have had at least a couple here.

When Gibbs-White long-range effort dipped over Benitez’s head and off the cross bar, the ball landed at the feet of the unmarked Delap. He could have put it anywhere but he hoofed it straight at the keeper from six yards.

Gibbs-White crossed another for him from the right but he put his free header wide of the post. Palace went right up the other end and scored.

It’s early days, of course, but the man with his socks around his ankles, needs to do much more to justify his price tag and show that he can have the influence Glasner needs to make his time at Forest as successful as his one at Palace.

After all the chants were sung, Glasner left to more cheers and applause from the Palace fans as the man who brought them an FA Cup and European glory waved his goodbyes once more.

As he did, Moving On Up by M People played over the speakers. ‘Just who do you think you are? Stop actin’ like some kind of star.’