Crystal Palace 1–0 Watford
by Gene Sylvester 
at Selhurst Park

ROY HODGSON returned to his old south London stomping ground as his old club Crystal Palace hosted his current club Watford, with the visitors needing a win to keep their sparse chances of Premier League survival alive.

But as things turned out, this game had a distinct end-of-season feel to it, with the Eagles running out 1-0 winners, courtesy of a first half Wilfried Zaha penalty.

Before this match, Watford’s destiny was never really in doubt, with their run of five losses within their last five matches hardly inspiring a survival story.

It was more of the same at Selhurst Park despite Patrick Vieira’s men having little left to play for this season with Hodgson’s men only registering one shot on target all game.

Watford manager Hodgson stated after the match that his team’s defeat against Burnley was the real nail in the coffin, not Saturday’s game.

“I really feel no different from last week’s defeat, if I’m honest. It was pretty obvious then that we were relegated.”

Despite the inevitable, the Watford boss, who took on the unenviable task of attempting to retain the Hornets’ Premier League status in January, was pleased with the application of his players.

“The team would have been forgiven for not putting in a performance today, but I was pleased with the team shape and work rate of the players.”

It took a 27th-minute penalty for Palace to see off the visitors after Hassane Kamara’s outstretched forearm blocked a Michael Olise header.

Following a lengthy VAR check, Zaha stepped up to send the impressive Ben Foster the wrong way and give the home team a much-deserved lead in the match.

Despite Jack Butland’s goal rarely being threatened, Palace manager Vieira was quick to admit that his team could have played better.

“We made it difficult for ourselves today as we didn’t move the ball quick enough. It wasn’t our best performance, but we were able to get the three points.”

Despite there being a penalty, VAR check, and a sending off — Kamara’s 68th-minute dismissal for a second bookable offence — the biggest talking point of the day was Hodgson’s seeming snub to the travelling Watford fans that had just witnessed the confirmation of their team’s relegation.

On the final whistle, the ex-Crystal Palace manager was surrounded by his former players Zaha and Tomkins, who clearly wanted to wish their former boss well.

It was also the first time a full-capacity Selhurst Park were able to say goodbye to “one of their own” as Hodgson’s final game in charge came in front of a reduced-capacity crowd following the re-ntroduction of fans to stadiums following Project Restart.

And the Selhurst crowd really gave their ex-boss a rousing ovation. However in all of this, it seemed he had forgot to walk across and acknowledge the travelling support.

The former England manager, who is expected to step down from the Watford job at the end of the season, addressed his possible faux-pas during the post match press conference.

“In hindsight I probably should have gone across and acknowledged the Watford fans, but I was being pulled towards the tunnel by some of the Palace players that I know from my time here, but the Watford fans are not stupid and have been tremendous both here and against Burnley last week. 

“It’s a first for me to be sitting here doing a press conference having managed a team that has just been relegated, but I have absolutely no regrets in taking the Watford job,” he concluded.