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STAR MAN: Wilifred Zaha

WILIFRED ZAHA scored the first goal as Crystal Palace romped home 4 – 0 against Watford in the Championship on Saturday. The south London club got three much needed points after drawing two and losing four of their last six League One games.

Watford started the brighter of the two teams with Jonathan Hogg and Alex Kacaniklic both sending chances wide. They clearly came for the win, with Palace looking happy to catch their visitors on the counter-attack.

A silly free-kick was handed to Watford on the edge of the area in the 13th minute after Kagisho Dikgacoi fouled Hogg. Kacaniklic shot straight at the goalkeeper and Julian Speroni made an easy save. The visiting midfielder should have done better rather than wasting a good opportunity.

Zaha, the youngster touted for future stardom, had been fairly quiet until he teased Alex Kacaniklic into a foul to give the home side a free kick, which Jermaine Easter sent into the box for Zaha to knock in from close range.

Although this clearly boosted Palace's confidence, there was a sense that the visitors might still score. Speroni made a great block to stop the ball after a powerful Chris Forsyth shot followed good Watford build-up.

But the visitors didn't seem to learn and more needless fouls and a lack of strength within their defence set the tone for the rest of the match. The second goal came just before half-time when Chris Martin scored with a header when a perfectly placed Darren Ambrose free-kick arrived in the box.

You would have expected Watford to come out all guns blazing in the second half as they looked to salvage something, but just four minutes after the break they conceded their third. Another Ambrose free-kick flew into the box, Easter toed it across goal and Martin knocked it into the bottom right corner.

Palace's fourth and final goal came in the 63rd minute after another set piece, this time an Ambrose corner. Dikgacoi scored this time to give the Eagles their first win of 2012 after a dismal start to the year.

Eagles boss Dougie Freedman will also be buoyed that his team kept their 13th clean sheet of the season.