Wilfried Zaha saw two penalty claims turned down as Watford and Crystal Palace edged towards Premier League safety after playing out an eventful 0-0 on Saturday
The Palace forward was booked for simulation following the second penalty shout, having gone down under pressure from Adrian Mariappa (63)
Meanwhile, the woodwork was struck three times at Vicarage Road, with Watford striker Stefano Okaka heading against the bar before Palace duo Luka Milivojevic and James Tomkins suffered similar misfortune after the break
The point lifts Palace into 15th, six points clear of 18th-placed Southampton who have a game in hand, while Watford move onto 38 points - nine clear of the drop zone
Watford were dominant in the first half, and almost took the lead after four minutes when Okaka's header cannoned off the crossbar following Troy Deeney's cross
The hosts almost went ahead in fortuitous circumstances, but goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey got down well to keep out a poor Deeney attempt which ricocheted off Joel Ward and headed towards goal
A quiet half from Palace ended with calls for a penalty, but referee Chris Kavanagh waved away the claims after Zaha went down after tangling with Christian Kabasele - an already-booked Abdoulaye Doucoure made his feelings clear when rushing over to confront the forward
After the break, Milivojevic's free-kick from a narrow angle hit the post, but attention soon turned to a contentious decision down the other end
It came as Zaha - who was fouled five times in the match - was grounded from Mariappa's attempted tackle
 Kavanagh opted to book the Ivorian, though replays suggested there was a touch from the Watford defender
A fierce affair rumbled on, with James Tomkins heading against the post for Palace before a late flurry of cards saw the match end with eight bookings - Ward perhaps the most fortunate to escape a second yellow following a poor challenge on Jose Holebas
Crystal Palace survived a first-half onslaught from Watford and could have nicked a winner after the break
 Tomkins was central to Palace's resolute display in defence, making 18 clearances - 13 more than any other player on the pitch - while he came within a whisker of heading the visitors to victory when his header struck the post
 "It was a good first half from us - one of the best this season
 We created many chances but we didn't take them
"In the second half, they made more control and created chances to score
 We tried until the end but could not do it
"It did not surprise us
 They changed a little with [the Christian] Benteke [substitution], but the first half was very demanding as we pressed very aggressively
 "I think he [Zaha] is being unfairly treated
 But the fact is, reputations are given to you from people outside of your control
 Other managers sometimes come in with opinions and that's been picked up by the mass media - then it gets blown up
"I can assure people, if they've got any faith in my judgement and ability to see football relatively calmly, he never looks to dive in the penalty area - never - because he wants to score goals, there's no doubt about that
"He will get unbalanced
 I thought in the first half the referee made the right decision when he almost got through but was unbalanced and went down
 He didn't go for the penalty
 He was just unbalanced
 The referee dealt with that very well
"The second one, when people see it they will have their opinions, but they will have to forgive me for thinking that it was a penalty
"Watford travel to Wembley to face Tottenham on  on April 30 - live on 
 Meanwhile, Crystal Palace are in 3pm action next Saturday at home to Leicester
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