Crystal Palace won 1–0, with the only goal of the game coming from Kevin Phillips in the last minute of the first half of extra time from the penalty spot.

The game ended goalless but Palace's top scorer Glenn Murray was injured and had to be carried off on a stretcher midway through the second half after suffering what was suspected to be a cruciate ligament injury.

Wilfried Zaha put Palace ahead midway through the second half with a header from Yannick Bolasie and double their advantage late in the game, striking the ball into the roof of the net.

[4] In the second leg, Matěj Vydra, recently named the Championship Player of the Year at the Football League Awards,[5] put Watford into the lead with a left-foot volley from a Marco Cassetti pass into the far corner of Kasper Schmeichel's goal.

Nugent restored parity in the leg with another header from a Knockaert corner, before Vydra played a one-two with Troy Deeney to score his second and equalise the semi-final 2–2 on aggregate.

Leicester were awarded an injury time penalty: Knockaert stepped up to take it only to see it saved, and in the immediate counter-attack, Jonathan Hogg's knock-down was finished by Deeney to give Watford a 3–2 aggregate victory and passage to the final.

[9] During the regular season, Crystal Palace lost their home game against 3–2 in August 2012 in what was Gianfranco Zola's first league match as manager of Watford.

Palace's soul loanee was Zaha who had been sold to Manchester United in the January transfer window and loaned back to the south London club.

Daniel Pudil and Hogg were recalled to the Watford side, having been absent from the team that defeated Leicester City in the semi-final.

After a brief interlude to remove some balloons which had descended from the spectators into the Crystal Palace penalty area, Watford won a free kick for a foul on Deeney.

A counter attack from Palace midway through the first half saw Zaha holding off two Watford defenders, enabling him to pass to Owen Garvan who delayed his shot too long and allowed Lloyd Doyley to block.

Five minutes later, Vydra's first shot on goal was blocked by Palace defender Damien Delaney, but by the end of the half the Watford striker was visibly struggling after picking up an injury.

Palace kicked off the second half and after two minutes the first chance fell to Watford's loanee Nathaniel Chalobah whose long-range strike went wide.

With 18 minutes remaining, a cross from Zaha was headed back across goal by Phillips but Garvan failed to find the target, curling his shot past the outside of the post.

With seven minutes remaining, Almunia saved a Wilbraham shot before Garvan was replaced by André Moritz in Palace's final substitution of the match.

Nine minutes in, Danny Gabbidon conceded a corner which, taken by Abdi, was struck by Battocchio through a group of defenders and saved by Speroni.

[16] Man of the Match: Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace) Assistant referees: Stuart Burt Peter Kirkup Fourth official: Neil Swarbrick Match rules: Crystal Palace manager Ian Holloway said: "I've been very fortunate to have worked with some great players and I'm very grateful to this bunch.