Crystal Palace moved out of the Championship drop-zone after a battling draw at Watford. Watford took the lead through Andreas Weimann, on loan from Aston Villa, when he volleyed in Andros Townsend’s ball from the left. Palace equalised when James Vaughan collected the ball from Neil Danns before jinking his way past Adrian Mariappa and firing past Scott Loach.

Briefly, as Andros Townsend wriggled through on the left and Andreas Weimann swivelled to score, this promised to be rather fun. But Palace are nothing if not a damp squib: that was as much space and time as they were prepared to afford us, and our attacking efforts were increasingly frustrated by the two holding midfielders wedged in front of the defence like a chair under a door handle. That’s the way to play us, no question. It’s dull as a muddy puddle, but it works.