Watford’s Under-18s fell to a 3-1 defeat at home to Hull City, who proved too much of a test for Simon Clark’s men on Saturday (October 17), with the youngsters falling three goals behind before a late consolation goal for the Hornets ended the scoring.

Watford came into this game on the back of a 3-2 win away at Cardiff City, meaning the young Hornets started the day in fifth place in the Under-18 Professional Development League table, however unfortunately they were unable to build on this victory.

Damani Hunter scored the only Hornets goal late on after a well-worked free-kick left him free at the back post to tap in.

“This week we’ve had three trialists, four Under-16s, three first years and one second year, so it was always going to be a tough gig today because we were under-age and a little bit less physical than they are and we don’t train together regularly,” said Clark

Hull opened the scoring in the fifth minute as a searching ball into the box was headed clear and the Tigers’ captain Olly Green struck a low driven shot from the edge of the box into the Hornets’ bottom corner, leaving Watford's trialist keeper helpless to prevent the visitors going 1-0 up.

“I don’t think we were under undue pressure. We had good bits of play but we just didn’t get the final pass or the final action to try and get a shot on target. Obviously when you go down in the game you’re looking for that little spark and whilst we had alright build-up, we turned the ball over far too many times which means you don’t get any momentum in the game,” said Clark.

Hull doubled their lead in the 21st minute as Watford were dispossessed on the edge of their own box, allowing for Green to put in Louis Beckett, who calmly slotted past the onrushing Watford keeper from close range to put the Tigers 2-0 up.

“We made a couple of tweaks at half-time structurally because they played with a narrow back-four, so we tried to hit a few more diagonals to stretch them,” said Clark.

Watford started the second half the much brighter team, with Hunter having the better of his opposite number on numerous occasions down the right-hand side, but the final ball continued to elude the Hornets’ forwards.

Hull put the game beyond any doubt in the 73rd minute when winger Josh Hinds cut in from the left wing and fired past the helpless goalkeeper into the bottom right corner.

Watford pulled one back in the dying minutes as a free-kick on the right wing was whipped in by Adian Manning, finding Hunter at the back post who fired in from the edge of the six-yard box.

“I’m just pleased that we scored a goal from a set play that we worked on yesterday, because I don’t think it was a three-goal game at all,” said Clark.

“It was a tough day, a steep learning curve because of our ages, but it will do the Under-16s a fantastic amount of good. I think we finished with either five or six on the pitch, which will be invaluable for their education.”