WATFORD'S under 18's saw off a strong Chelsea side on Saturday and more than held their own against the super rich youngsters.

What impressed Sean Dyche most was the resolute nature of the Academy lads as they came back from a goal down to romp into a 3-1 lead.

Kieron Forbes' equaliser in the 49th minute levelled proceedings, before skipper Aaron Beech put the Hornets ahead.

Marvin Sordell then got the goal that he so richly deserved after an afternoon of plugging away and put Watford into a 3-1 lead.

Chelsea's late goal was never going to take the gloss off of this performance; it was in fact a day when everyone performed their duties to a high standard to produce a real team effort.

Despite Chelsea having the majority of the possession, Watford were by far the more workmanlike and went about the task of breaking the west London team down. This paid dividends in the first 20 minutes of the second half when Watford enjoyed their brightest spell.

This culminated in the three key goals that won the game for the Hornets.

Dyche said: "Everyone performed as you would want them to. Jonathan North had a great game in goal, as did Dale Bennett in defence. Billy Gibson had two assists and Marvin Sordell did well to keep at it after missing a couple of chances early on.

"We didn't look out of our depth at all and it was a really good team performance."

WATFORD: North, Hodson, Angus, Jenkins, Beech, Bennett, Young (Whichelow 90), Forbes, Henderson, Sordell, Gibson. Subs: Kiernan, Clarke, Brown.