Despite being in administration and the relegation zone, Palace were scrapping for their lives with just seven games to go, on a winless streak of six Championship matches and occupying the last relegation spot.
Going into the game four points behind 21st-placed Watford – the hosts also having a game in hand – the match had a distinctly ‘must-win’ feel, as defeat would have opened up a five-point gap between the Eagles and Sheffield Wednesday.
Palace – as they so often do on the big occasions – responded, giving their survival chances the power of good with a memorable win which, in turn, brought the Hornets dangerously close to the bottom three themselves.
Despite the two-goal margin in Palace’s favour, it was a match of fine margin as Watford twice hit the woodwork in the opening period through Tom Cleverley and Henri Lansbury, while Julian Speroni was also called upon to make a stunning point-blank save from Martin Taylor with the score at 0-0.