Watford and Crystal Palace continued to inch towards Premier League safety after a scrappy goalless draw at Vicarage Road on Saturday that means the home side have taken just two points from a possible 21.
Palace hit the post twice and Watford once but neither side really deserved to win with Watford edging the first half, in which keeper Wayne Hennessey had to be at his sharpest to prevent an own goal from Joel Ward, and Palace piling on the pressure after the break.
Watford's Abdoulaye Doucoure was fortunate to remain on the pitch when, having already been booked, he was so incensed by Wilfried Zaha's penalty shout that he pushed him.
Watford were again unhappy when the Palace winger clashed with keeper Orestis Karnezis and Zaha was once more at the centre of things when he was booked for simulation after his second penalty shout was turned down.
The debate that has raged all season over Zaha's penalty area antics flared again and manager Roy Hodgson said that the Ivorian was being unfairly labelled a diver.
"He's given attention he doesn't deserve. When the rumours spread that he's a cheat and not the honest player he is, the crowd are led by that," said Hodgson.
"I thought he kept his head and kept taking chances. Hopefully I'm not being one-eyed, but I think he would have got the penalty in another game."
Zaha has won eight penalties for Palace over the past three seasons and now received eight cautions for simulation after referee Chris Kavanagh decided he had gone down too easily under Adrian Mariappa's challenge.
Earlier this month, Zaha gave an interview to counter the criticism, pointing out that "unless you are able to run that fast you probably don't understand".
On Saturday, Watford were wary of this threat and set about trying to stop him by whatever means they could.
"I've not seen the penalty shout back but I'm sure Watford targeted Zaha a little bit, as teams do," said Palace midfielder James McArthur.
"It was a massive point. We weren't good enough in the first half and we upped the pressure. Unfortunately we couldn't get the goal.
"We want to win every game and we'll go to the next one focused. We need to keep fighting for every single point."
