SHAUN Derry believes keeping hold of Ben Watson could be the key to securing a play-off place this season at Selhurst Park.

The on-going saga over Watson’s future has dragged on all summer but the midfield ace, who scored the Eagles’ equaliser against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, remains a Cystal Palace player until the January transfer window at least.

And Derry, who knows more than most about Watson’s abilities as a fellow Palace midfielder, is hoping his colleague will decide to stay in SE25.

He said:“There is a lot of speculation and rightly so because he is a great player.

“I love playing in the midfield with Ben and if or when he does go I’ll miss him dearly, but while he’s here he is a fantastic addition to the squad and good to have around the place as well.

“I think we have to determine whether Ben is going to be here in January with our league position.

“If we’ve got half a chance of getting promoted, I’d like to think we could keep him because he could be the difference.”

The captain claims he is not the only one at Selhurst who rates Watson as a great midfielder.

Derry added: “A number of players who have joined us in the summer have said that his set pieces are the best in the league and he reproduces them every week.

“He’s on top of his game, he could have had two goals today and I think he will admit himself that he took the wrong option when he went into the box and that could have resulted in a goal for him.”

Manager Neil Warnock revealed there is currently a contract offer on the table for the midfield ace, but Derry feels there is more great talent at Selhurst Park He said: “For us, you have to look at the individual talent that we’ve got.

“We had Victor Moses on the bench and even though he didn’t come on, he’s the type of player that can win you a game.”

Derry admitted to a poor performance on Tuesday evening against Nottingham Forset, but feels by the second half of Saturday’s game his side were playing very well.

He said: “We were bitterly disappointed on Tuesday against Nottingham Forest, it was a diabolical performance.

“I think after the first 20 minutes, where we continued where we left off against Forest, there was only one side in it.

“They had the odd 15 minutes, which was mainly on the counter-attack, and the second half was more like what we should be playing at home.”

The Palace captain also claimed the Eagles were looking toward the top half of the table as opposed to the sides underneath them.

He said: “We’ve got to be wary of what is below us, but we want to look ahead at where points will come from and where they will take us.

“We’re not looking over our shoulders, though, because we want to be a team that is in and around the play-offs.

“I’d like to say that all the sides in the championship are hard-working, honest teams and we definitely fall in that category.

“It will take something special to get out of the league and as results today show everybody is beating each other.”