MATCH FACT Ayew beaut
JORDAN AYEW’S winner handed Palace their third stodgy 1-0 win in a row.
But never mind the tedium – it’s a grind of magic.
Ayew’s eighth goal of the season, all of them in the Premier League, dumped Watford right back in the muck and nettles of the relegation dogfight.
And it left Hornets boss Nigel Pearson cursing a “missed opportunity” to cash in on trashing Liverpool’s ‘Invincibles’ dream seven days earlier.
If that was the shock result of the season, this wasn’t just a case of after the Lord Mayor’s Show – Pearson’s side had as much bite as a set of false teeth in the jar beside your granny’s bed.
Watford’s head coach groaned: “Our inability to be decisive in front of goal cost us, and we could have done better with the goal we conceded in terms of blocking the shot.
“We were playing against a side who were happy to defend with a bit of depth, but our quality of final pass and set plays needed to be better.
“There is no point in wasting energy dwelling on this for too long.”
From a grown man dressed as an insect poking fun at Wilfried Zaha with a comedy dive, to former Eagles manager Ian Holloway censoring Watford’s use of the loan system with a marker pen, there has been little love lost between these clubs in recent years.
There was little sign of enmity or aggression until Ayew broke the stalemate, smuggling his shot from 18 yards beyond Ben
■ Crystal Palace have won three consecutive Premier League games without conceding for the first time since March 2017.