January 1 2006

Iain Dowie

Iain Dowie claimed Palace got the luck they deserved after a controversial penalty kept his side's play-off push on course.

Palace won for the third time over Christmas thanks to a late ANDY JOHNSON penalty after Darius Henderson had cancelled out Darren Ward's opener.

But Watford boss Adrian Boothroyd was furious with referee Phil Dowd's decision to award the spot-kick for Clarke Carlisle's challenge on Clinton Morrison.

Dowie said: "It was a penalty. Clinton had his shirt pulled by Clarke Carlisle.

"A lot of penalty decisions have gone against us this season, so it was nice to get one.

"We should have been more than one goal ahead at half-time, because we knew they would rally in the second half.

"But we dealt well with Watford's direct style of play, and we looked strong."

With automatic promotion still a slim possiblity, Dowie insists his side are determined to catch the top two.

He said: "We have a mountain to climb but we can't take our eye off the ball.

"We have the right work ethic and that's showed in our recent results."