Alan Pardew conceded Crystal Palace “wasted” the first half in their 2-1 defeat against Watford but felt the Eagles were ultimately unfortunate not to have got a result out of the game.

The Eagles were rocked when referee Bobby Madley awarded the Hornets a penalty after 15 minutes when he spotted Mile Jedinak hauling down Troy Deeney at a corner. The home side struggled to get at the races after the Hornets skipper had converted the spot-kick, but were back on terms by the break after Emmanuel Adebayor had headed home a Connor Wickham cross.

Palace in the second half but a combination of Heurelho Gomes and the woodwork denied them, either side of Deeney scoring what proved to be the winner.

Reflecting on the game, the Eagles boss said: “It was a strange game. The first goal affected us in a negative way, there’s no doubt about that. The manner of that kind of decision on the first corner was tough to take really. [There was] not a history of holding in the game, it’s only just kicked off and he gives a penalty. We’ve had many, many incidents where they’re not given and maybe they should be.

“Regardless of that, we couldn’t get going at all in the first half. That’s as poor and as unbalanced a side I can remember putting out at Palace. It wasn’t happening for us, too many long balls and it was a little worrying if I’m honest. Then we scored, sort of out of the blue, which got us in level which we probably didn’t deserve.”

Pardew continued: “Nevertheless, in the second half, a few changes and a bit of a pep talk and we were a lot better and were perhaps unlucky to lose this game. It was the one real mistake defensively we made. (Joel) Wardy’s just thinking the centre halves are going to miss it so he’s gone on the cover and just given Deeney enough time to smash the winner.

“It’s a kind of strange feeling. There’s a lot of me that feels we wasted 45 minutes. On the other hand, I feel a little bit disappointed we haven’t got something from the game.”

The defeat was Palace’s ninth successive Premier League game without a victory and the manager said: “I look at the players and if I thought there was a complacency or lack of effort that would really worry me. But the things that worry me are technical issues like the balance of the team and making sure that we dominate games and particularly against teams like Watford. They’re issues that I think we can work on and get better, certainly as [injured] players come back to us.

“But I’m not going to disguise the fact it’s been a difficult run and I think the boys’ reaction after half time was about as good as I could have hoped for and I think they’re a little unlucky to have lost this game.”