LONDON (AFP) - Watford heaped more misery on Crystal Palace as their winless Premier League run stretched to nine matches with a 2-1 defeat at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
Troy Deeney scored a brace either side of Emmanuel Adebayor's first goal for the Eagles as the visiting Hornets brought their own recent slump to an end.
Deeney put Watford in front from the penalty spot on 16 minutes and fired home the winner eight minutes from time.
"It is a massive win. We target teams in and around us to take the points and it was a well deserved victory, and a well fought one," the match-winner told the BBC.
Adebayor had equalised on the stroke of half-time while Palace had Pape Souare sent off deep into injury time.
Watford moved up to eighth with the win while Palace stayed 12th.
"We were not good in the first half. We were much improved in the second half and should have won it, so a bit of a blow to lose the game," admitted Palace boss Alan Pardew.
The visitors were on top in the early stages as Mile Jedinak got in a crucial block to deny Deeney.
But Jedinak wrestled Deeney to the ground in the box and the striker dusted himself down to slot home from the spot, sending Wayne Hennessey the wrong way.
Heurelho Gomes then produced a wonder save to deny Yohan Cabaye's low strike that looked headed for the bottom corner of the net.
Odion Ighalo pounced on a poor Jedinak pass, wriggled into the area and fired a shot off the base of the post, with Hennessey up quickly to block the follow-up from Nordin Amrabat.
Ighalo couldn't keep down his flick from Deeney's ball over the top as Watford continued to dominate, but against the run of play Adebayor equalised with a looping header after climbing above Craig Cathcart.
Pardew switched former Manchester United winger Wilfried Zaha from the right to the left at half-time and the speedy England international's influence increased.
He created a pair of chances for Adebayor while Jordon Mutch forced Gomes into a decent stop.
But this time, as Palace dominated, it was Watford who found the decisive breakthrough.
Ben Watson's deflected cross dropped kindly for Deeney, who controlled the ball on his thigh before drilling home past Hennessey.
Palace came a lick of paint away from snatching a share of the spoils as Cabaye crashed a volley off the lower part of the upright late on.
But Souare was dismissed for a two-footed lunge on Valon Behrami before Joel Ward turned Zaha's cross over the bar as Palace's hopes of snatching a draw fizzled out.
