Watford took three giant steps towards the play-off final in Cardiff with an emphatic win over Crystal Palace this afternoon.
In an inspirational second half display, goals from Marlon King, Ashley Young and Matthew Spring gives Watford a three-goal advantage at this halfway stage in the Coca-Cola Championship Semi-Final.
In front of a passionate and noisy 22, 880 crowd in South London, it was the hosts who began the sharper and Watford, with manager, Aidy Boothroyd preferring James Chambers to Chris Eagles on the right flank, were the side that was back pedaling during the early exchanges.
Watford did nearly open the scoring in the seventh minute though, when Tony Popovic failed to clear a hopeful long punt into the penalty box by Golden Boys' goalie Ben Foster, but the Championship's leading marksmen, King saw his shot well saved by Gabor Kiraly, who had sprinted off his goal-line.
However, that moment provided the wake-up call Crystal Palace needed, who soon turned up the heat on the visitors.
Jobi McAnuff soon danced his way past Lloyd Doyley on the left before unleashing a fierce right foot effort that a diving Foster did well to turn around his right hand post.
Andrew Johnson who was reveling in the big match atmosphere then nearly broke the deadlock in the 16th minute, only to drag his shot agonisingly wide of Foster's right hand upright after being set up by Ben Watson.
Jay DeMerit then had to be on guard to hack Tom Soares' teasing cross away to safety before Clinton Morrison fired narrowly over the bar from 14 yards with Foster beaten after a neat build up involving Johnson and McAnuff.
Watson then tried his luck from distance as Palace looked to take advantage of their long spells of possession, although the midfielder's shot from the edge of the area was again off target.
Just before the break Watford enjoyed their best spell of possession, and although they failed to carve out any real chance it was apparent the pendulum of power may be about to swing the Golden Boys way in the second half, and it did so in truly dramatic fashion.
Barely a minute of the second period had elapsed when the mercurial King put Watford in front. Foster's long goal kick again proved difficult for the home defence, and with Darren Ward struggling to cope, the livewire striker pulled off a neat turn before firing a sizzling low left foot shot that whizzed past a despairing Kiraly and into his net via the base of the left hand post.
The traveling fans massed in the Arthur Wait stand could hardly contain their delight and their exuberance turned to absolute ecstasy midway through the half when Young doubled the visitors' advantage. 
After being bundled over right in front of Referee Mr. Jones 25 yards out, the immensely talented Young dusted himself down, before delivering an exquisite free-kick that flew over the Crystal Palace wall and buried itself into the top right hand corner of Kiraly's net, who then forcefully raced out of his goal to castigate his defenders for not standing in the correct position.
The hosts had been clearly rattled and although Emmerson Boyce brought the best out of Foster following good link up play with Morrison, as had Eagles captain Tony Popovic after King's opener, it was Watford who would have the final say on a memorable afternoon.
Matthew Spring, who had an outstanding game in the middle of the park, made another of his trademark runs deep into the heart of Crystal Palace territory and, after collecting the ball from Young on the right, he nipped past Fitz Hall and planted a left foot shot that rocketed past Kiraly to send the 3, 300 Watford fans in the stadium into a state of uncontrolled delirium.
As the final whistle blew the South Londoners were left ruefully counting the cost of some poor finishing after dominating the first half, and Iain Dowie's men now need a miracle if they are to reach the play-off final in Cardiff later this month.
For Watford, a breathtaking second half display in which every player contributed fully, has left them on the verge of a place in the Coca-Cola Championship Play-off Final and their charismatic manager's long held belief that promotion was a distinct possibility is now most definitely being believed by the happy traveling hordes who filed out of Selhurst Park into a cooling and damp South London afternoon at full time.
Golden Boys Man of the Match: The Team - everyone played their part including playing substitutes, Al Bangura and Chris Eagles, simply awesome.