Sam Allardyce took charge of the Eagles for the first time this afternoon, three days after it was announced the former Sunderland had replaced Alan Pardew, and had to settle for a point in a 1-1 draw with Watford at Vicarage Road.
Yohan Cabaye got the ball rolling midway through the first half, firing home after a brilliant individual run from Andros Townsend to give the away side the lead at half-time.
Watford, though, replied in the second period, with Troy Deeney scoring his 100th goal for his club, delivering from the penalty spot.
Injuries provided the talking points in the opening minutes of play. The Hornets were forced into an change only three minutes into the top flight contest, with Daryl Janmaat, who has struggled for fitness this season, looking to have picked up a groin strain, being replaced by Juan Camilo Zuniga. There was further injury woe for Walter Mazzarri 10 minutes later when Valon Behrami clutched his hamstring, resulting in captain Deeney’s introduction to the pitch.
The substitutions will have hugely altered the tactical thinking of Mazzarri and Palace were clearly the more confident side, with the tempo of their play higher than has been seen for some time.
The visitors were dangerous on the ball, constantly looking to quickly break forward. It was Cabaye who came closest for the Eagles in the 25th minute, firing just wide from the edge of the box, and only seconds later he opened the scoring for the visitors, the first goal for his club under new boss Allardyce and his second of the campaign.
Townsend, after skilfully beating his man on the right flank, played a delightful into the path of Cabaye, who had comfortably breached a disjointed Watford defence, in the box and the midfielder coolly dispatched a low effort past Heurelho Gomes from close range, making it 1-0 in the 26th minute.
It soon went from bad to worse for the Hornets… or at least it could have done. Less than 10 minutes from half-time, an awful back pass forced Gomes to rush out of his penalty area and challenge Wilfried Zaha on the far left of the box. The goalkeeper clearly kicked the leg of his rival, leaving Mark Clattenburg with no choice but to point to the spot.
Benteke, however, stepped up to take a dreadful penalty. His stuttered run-up failed to fool Gomes, who comfortably stretched his left hand to save the Belgian’s tame effort.
Crystal Palace went into the dressing room with a deserved lead against a disorganised Watford team in need of a little festive inspiration.
Heading towards the 70th minute mark at Watford and there was very little of the second half to discuss.
The Hornets were getting more of the ball, with Palace opting to sit deeper and soak up any pressure, but Wayne Hennessey was yet to be forced into making a decisive save.
But just as the Vicarage Road faithful might have been showing signs of restlessness, the Eagles got themselves into trouble, forcing Clattenburg to point to the penalty spot for the second time in the game.
Damien Delaney was guilty of illegally attempting to block Sebastian Prödl, and Deeney took responsibility from the penalty spot, unleashing a powerful effort straight down the middle of Hennessey’s goal – his 100th finish for Watford – to level the scores at 1-1 in the 71st minute.
Both sides were pushing for a winner towards the closing stages of the game but, in reality, neither really looked like scoring, forcing Mazzarri and Allardyce to settle for a point.
The lifts Watford to 10th and leaves Palace in 17th.
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