A BIG JOR DROPPER

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 3-0 win 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 said: “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.”

Ayew broke the stalemate, smuggling his shot from 18 yards beyond Ben Foster despite being boxed in by three defenders. But then niggling and playground pettiness took over as Watford became distracted by a running battle with their familiar nemesis.

Wilfried Zaha, rightly booked for cynically pulling Etienne Capoue’s shirt, complained bitterly that it was his first offence – but he was trying to play referee Anthony Taylor like a harp. If Watford were trying to get Zaha sent off, then Palace were doing the same to Capoue.

Zaha was probably fortunate to escape a second yellow card – as he was after being spared for poking Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse in the face two months ago – and he needs to keep his hands to himself.

Palace boss Roy Hodgson saw it differently, of course, saying: “I’m pretty certain that if you keep a TV monitor on Wilf for 95 minutes, you’ll see plenty of prods in his face or little kicks.

“I had no thoughts whatsoever that Wilf was in danger of being sent off.”