Watford head coach Gianfranco Zola has stressed the importance of not giving away cheap goals after his side came from 2-1 down with a minute remaining to beat Crystal Palace 3-2.

The Hornets conceded a penalty to hand Palace the lead in the first half and then after Martin Taylor’s equaliser, Almen Abdi’s poor concentration meant Garvan added another before the break.

It looked as though the visitors were going to leave Selhurst Palace empty handed but then Abdi equalised in the 88th minute before fellow Udinese loanee Matej Vydra scored a lovely winner in the dying moments of injury time.

“I think the equaliser was deserved and the difference was the great goal at the end,” Zola said.

“I told the players I was happy with the way we played when we had the ball but I would have liked to have seen more intensity when we didn’t have the ball because we cannot make it that cheap for the opposition.

“At the end of the first half Crystal Palace were winning 2-1 and I do not think they deserved to be but they found two cheap goals from us, with all due respect to them.

“We played well with the ball but in football you need to be able to do both [defending] as well.”

On the two new signings who scored Watford’s late goals, Zola added: “I am delighted for everybody because we worked hard and it was a good victory.

“The two new players are quality players and they showed their quality today.

“Hopefully they will just be the beginning as we have other players [to come in] as well.”

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