CRYSTAL PALACE 1 WATFORD 0

BY AYODELE ODUMADE AT SELHURST PARK

Some have questioned whether Sam Allardyce should have been allowed back into football management straight after his sacking by England but the Eagles fans probably would not get involved in that debate. Palace have now won three games in a row and also kept three clean sheets.

This was a game that took forever to come to life as both teams looked disjointed with no sort of cohesion during the first half. Although Wilfried Zaha tried his best to get going he could not find the spark required in the first half.  Christian Benteke whom Sam Allardyce said should not worry about not scoring and that he would get the service required in due course was once again starved upfront as he cut a forlorn figure in a system, which does not suit him. He thrives on width but it was not forthcoming from Zaha or Andros Townsend who was on the opposite wing.

Watford were not much better either as they also struggled to get hold of the ball. Generally the first half was being played as if it was a testimonial. In the first half there was only one shot on target and that was from M’baye Niang, which Wayne Hennessey dealt with comfortably.

The second half was slightly better but Palace were going for it knowing it could take just one goal to win this massive fixture from their point of view. The goal duly arrived when Palace were awarded a free kick outside the Watford area.  Yohan Cabaye whipped the ball in and Troy Deeney inadvertently headed the ball past his own keeper Heurelho Gomes to give Palace the lead.

Niang hit a shot from distance, which forced Hennessey to make a fine save. Benteke had a chance to kill off the game but instead of smashing the ball first time, he dilly-dallied on the ball and the chance went begging. That probably is symptomatic of the way things are going for him at the moment as he has been a target man and was looking to play someone else in.  Seconds later Zaha saw his shot saved by Gomes and Cabaye failed to hit the target from the rebound.

Palace held on for a massive win, which moves them further away from the relegation zone. Zaha was the best player on the park based on his second half performance.

Allardyce said:” Every game we play cannot be deemed has easy for us. We had to tough it out for long periods of time. You are playing against a huge side. In the end we produced a bit of quality to win the game. On a couple of occasions we could have sealed it. Our defence was outstanding today. We have won three on the trot and four out of six. The squad is better.  It is a nice things to look at the team and say why change. Our home form has been worse than our away form and we are trying to turn that around.  We can look forward to our next game after the international break, which is the little game against Chelsea. If we get Christian scoring again we will be a bigger force.”