Returning from international duty with Wales, the 22-year-old was quick off the mark at Grosvenor Vale, firing Palace into an early lead after just three minutes when Molly Sharpe deflected a loose pass into her path.
Hughes would go on to double her tally before the break with a brilliant header from Sharpe’s inviting cross, before Shauna Guyatt added a third with a long-range effort on the stroke of half-time.
On hitting double figures for the season by the first weekend of November, the forward told Palace TV: “I’m really happy to keep scoring goals.
“Hopefully, the run will continue, but it’s all about the players around me – I can’t score without them! I know it’s a bit of a cliché, but you genuinely can’t. You see the quality in and around me, so it’s my job to score, and I’m glad I can do that.
“We obviously had an international break where a few of us went away and a few of us had a bit longer to think [after our previous defeat to Charlton], but we’ve all reflected as a group and we knew we had to put in a performance [against Watford] and get a result.
“It was about having both. It was tough. Everyone dug in and it was about the whole squad – it was a great effort from staff and from players.”