IT was payback time on Saturday for the Hornets as the Watford Academy boys earned a 3-2 victory over Birmingham City.

The last time the two teams met was in the Quarter Finals of the FA Youth cup last March and the Golden Boys were stung 1-0 at St Andrews.

But it was Watford celebrating this time around as Piero Mingoia struck twice and Jack Warburton netted once for the away side.

U17-19 manager Mark Warburton praised his young team after their victory.

"It was a very good result from a very young team" he said.

"Eddie Oshodi and Cole Penny were all out due to illness, Kurtney Brooks was away with Wales on international duty and Jonathan Bond was on the bench for the first team, so we lost a number of regular players.

"We played against more mature and physically intimating opponents, but it was a tremendous performance from our young players."

The coach reminisced about the fateful night in Birmingham last year and was glad to be able to put the past behind him.

"In the last encounter Birmingham came out on top, but Saturday was a good game for us.

"Having gone one nil down after just three minutes, and in the circumstances of losing players and not being as strong as Birmingham it looked like a very long day ahead at the start of the match.

"But the boys came through and did very very well and there were some key performances from some of the players, so it was a very worthwhile experience for them.

"Experiences like the FA Youth cup, the Milk Cup and the Copa Amsterdam tournament all contribute to these boys' abilities.

Warburton: "Their experiences from this develop their character and their sense of self belief"

"It's not coincidence that these boys come out of these competitions and go on to do very well.

"They are used to high profile games and opponents, playing Real Madrid and such like in the summer, so playing Birmingham was a big game, but it wasn't daunting for them at all and that showed in the result.

"Their experiences from this will develop their character and their sense of self belief to play in more challenging games."

Warburton expressed his delight at watching some of the players he has nurtured in the last few years making starts for the first team this season.

"The youngsters have got to see that the hard work they put in is being recognised.

"If they do well in training and in the Academy and reserve matches, there's a just reward for it and they can see that in practice here.

"The worst thing in the world is if they put in the work every day and don't even get a sniff at the reserve side, but in our case we have the regular examples such as Lee Hodson, Dale Bennett, Ross Jenkins and Eddie Oshodi, who were training with our youth team not that long ago and are now all playing for the first team.

"The youth players become more comfortable mixing with the first team players because they know half of them already and they can see their team mates working hard and doing well, so they are great examples to them."

WATFORD: Irving; Thompson, Fenwick, Hemati, Angus; Yiadom, Warburton, Mingoia (Rosier 81), Gibson (Greenhalgh 72); Otshudi, Massey. Subs not used: Bonham (gk), Isaac, Whichelow.

SCORERS: Mingoia (13, 39), Warburton (72).