This snarl of a game was deep into stoppage time when Luka Milivojevic swung over one last hopeful corner kick and, with the majority in the arena anxiously holding their breath, Joel Ward leapt unchallenged into the six-yard box only to head wide of the post. The locals’ outpouring of relief at the miss was almost as deafening as the raucous delight which greeted the final whistle moments later.

Watford’s pristine start to the season is maintained and, with their first three top-flight games won for the first time in their history, only goal difference is keeping them off the top. They will have taken particular pleasure in this scalp given how feisty meetings with Crystal Palace, and brushes with Wilfried Zaha in particular, have become in recent years.

The Ivory Coast forward’s influence has tended to decorate this fixture, whether winning key penalties or accruing bookings for perceived dives, and invariably driving Watford and their support to distraction.

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There was an inevitability he would leave a mark on this contest too with a rasped late consolation, ripped through Ben Foster, even if it was the manner in which Watford had sought to quell his threat that rather drew the focus.

The tone had been set in the opening four minutes when, with an ugly little jump and hardly any hope of reaching the ball from behind, Étienne Capoue raked Zaha’s achilles to leave him sprawled on the turf. The referee Anthony Taylor, only a few yards away and surely aware of recent history, instantly brandished a yellow card. Zaha would be cautioned himself within minutes for a follow-through on José Holebas – Daryl Janmaat escaped sanction for an arguably clumsier foul on Patrick van Aanholt seconds later – and has now been booked on each of his last four visits to Vicarage Road, yet his rather peripheral first-half showing suggested he had been unnerved by the earlier challenge.

It was a sinister way to start. Graeme Souness, working as a pundit for Sky and never averse to the odd bone-crunching warning tackle in his playing days, suggested Taylor had either “completely bottled it or he doesn’t understand football” by failing to produce a red card. “Capoue’s trying to hurt him badly,” he said. “There’s leaving a bit on someone and then there’s real malice and trying to injure someone for a really, really long time.”

Roy Hodgson, at first glance impressed at the official’s eagerness to clamp down on rough treatment, changed his tune after seeing a replay of the incident. “At first glance when the referee jumped in and gave the yellow card, I thought that was good,” the Palace manager said.

“He didn’t wait to give him a free hit. With hindsight, having seen the replays, he could have sanctioned him even harder. At the time I thought it was a bad challenge. I had no idea quite the degree of severity. But we have to get used to that. Players of Wilf’s match-winning ability do get targeted. He was targeted by that foul.”

Javi Gracia, even post-match, was reluctant to comment on a challenge he had apparently yet to witness close-up.

He had reason not to dwell on the afternoon’s principal controversy. Watford had survived a sloppy first half, when Palace thrived in the greasy conditions as the rain poured down, courtesy of Foster’s excellence in goal. His saves from Christian Benteke and James McArthur, both via strong blocks with his outstretched right hand, maintained parity, and Watford’s bright start to the second period duly changed the complexion of the game. Abdoulaye Doucouré and Capoue grew into the contest, the latter bursting from deep inside his own territory and beyond McArthur and Milivojevic eight minutes after the break before shifting the ball on to Roberto Pereyra.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Wayne Hennessey of Crystal Palace attempts to save the second goal scored by Jose Holebas. Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Images

The Argentinian has epitomised Watford’s bright start to the campaign, and his cut-back inside Ward and Andros Townsend was followed with a gloriously curled finish beyond the diving Wayne Hennessey into the far corner. It was his third goal of the season and a sumptuous finish, though the side would require greater breathing space to prevail. Holebas, again cutting inside Townsend, would provide it with a cross shot which arced gloriously – albeit possibly fortuitously – over Hennessey and Van Aanholt, retreating on to the goal-line, to nestle in the corner.

Watford would survive Zaha’s riposte and Ward’s late chance to force an equaliser thereafter to nestle behind Liverpool and Chelsea at the top, with Gracia left to preach caution after an historic start. “We are enjoying the moment knowing it’s only the beginning,” he said. “You can see the table and our position but also the date and that there are many steps still to make. But everybody is happy in this moment.”

These are heady days indeed in Hertfordshire. For Palace all that lingered was frustration.