December 12, 2000 11:11: After Clinton Morrison had delivered a knockout blow to Watford, Alan Smith explained how he gave his Eagles a little extra punch.

Saturdays battling 1-0 victory over Graham Taylors men extended Palaces unbeaten run to 10 games.

But the Palace boss gave his men an extra dose of fighting spirit with a pre-match dressing room sparring session.

Smith armed every player with a pair of boxing gloves in preparation for a physical encounter with the Hornets.

I felt that was the sort of thing we needed before a game like that. Graham Taylor is one of the best managers in the game and for us to have outfought them was fantastic, he said.

All 16 players did a little sparring before the match because thats the sort of game you expect from Watford and Clinton provided the knockout punch.

And Smith wasnt wrong because the gloves were definitely off in a fiercely contested London derby.

Watford looked the more threatening side in the opening minutes with strikers Tommy Mooney and Heider Helguson carrying the fight to Alan Smiths men.

But Palace almost claimed a direct hit in the 16th minute when Hayden Mullins scuffed his shot against the post from 20 yards.

Early in the second half, a mazy run from 20 year old Tommy Black ended with a 25 yard curler which was clawed away by Espen Baardsen.

And with Watford on the ropes, Clinton Morrison provided the footballing equivalent of a clean right hook on 61 minutes, belting the ball past Baardsen after it had bobbled off Mikael Forssell.

Watford responded when Allan Nielsen tried a Muhammad Ali impression, floating like a butterfly into the Palace area and almost stinging like a hornet but his shot was gathered by Aleksanders Kolinko.

Even the Great One would have been impressed with Palaces 89th minute counter punch.

Morrison raided down the left flank and played a perfect ball across to Dougie Freedman but his rasping effort with spectacularly tipped over by Baardsen.

The victory hoisted Palace up to 12th spot in Division One and Smith was clearly delighted with his players efforts.

It was a great team effort against a very good side and it shows how far we have come in the last 20 weeks, he said.

Palace fans had even more reason to cheer with the pre match announcement that midfielder Mullins had signed a new four year contract.

The deal marked a satisfying turnaround for the 21 year old who barely a month ago was on the transfer list after a poor start to the season.

The talented midfielder was reportedly a target of Premiership outfit Leicester City.