Kevin Phillips scored the only goal as Crystal Palace defeated Watford in a nervy Championship play-off final at Wembley. Phillips, aged 39 and a loser in three previous play-off finals, scored from the penalty spot at the end of the first half of extra time as Palace ended an eight-year absence from the Premier League. The penalty was awarded after a foul by Marco Cassetti on Wilfried Zaha, the young star who has been at Palace since the age of nine and was playing his last game for the club before his summer move to Manchester United.
Watford came mighty close to making it all square at the very end but Joel Ward headed off the line from Fernando Forestieri as the Eagles held on to win a huge match, worth no less than £120m to the victors.
Zaha, undoubtedly the star of the match, had some good runs in the opening 30 minutes and Watford tried to reply with their usual precise attacks but the first half was somewhat disappointing as neither keeper had to make a save during the opening 45 minutes. Palace started playing better after the break and Aaron Wilbraham had no less than three great chances to score but he was denied by superb saves from Manuel Almunia. The Spanish keeper also denied Stuart O'Keefe, Owen Garvan and Mile Jedinak to push the match into extra time.
Troy Deeney came very close to putting Watford ahead at the start of extra time but goalkeeper Julian Speroni was brave enough to clear the ball. The goal finally came in the 105th minute when Casetti brought down Zaha and Phillips fired into the top corner from the penalty spot.
Crystal Palace are back in the Premiership but they are the top candidates to get relegated at the end of next season according to the bookmakers. You can already bet on which teams will get relegated in the 2013/2014 Premier League season at Bet365, here are the odds for the top five candidates:
Crystal Palace - 2/5
Hull - 4/6
Cardiff - 6/4
Norwich - 5/2
Stoke - 4/1
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