Jack Grieves seems to have a knack for scoring at Vicarage Road, and the 17-year-old duly marked his first start for Watford’s Under-23s by adding to his tally at the home of the Hornets in Wednesday’s (March 30) 2-0 win over Wigan Athletic.
The mazy forward prodded home the second goal to cap an impressive display by the young Hornets, two minutes after Shaq Forde had fired the hosts in front early on in the second half.
Having previously notched hat-tricks at The Vic in both the Under-12 and Under-13 age groups, Grieves joked about his consistently impressive form in the first-team arena, while expressing his pride at reaching the latest milestone in his Golden Boys career.
“I’ve scored a couple of hat-tricks here before,” he smiled. “It’s always nice to play at the stadium and to grab a goal, even if I did get lucky off the keeper! I probably could have scored earlier actually, if I’d anticipated the situation better.
“I thought we started well. We had a lot of good chances in the first half, and we knew the first 10 minutes after the break would be very important. We knew we had to keep it simple, let the forwards do what they do best, and we managed to get two good goals and hold on well for the win.
“It’s always nice to represent the team you support in the stadium you’ve grown up watching them play in, and to score and get the win at the next level up is just a brilliant feeling.”
Having featured off the bench for the Under-23s on several occasions, Grieves is hopeful of building on his first appearance in the starting XI before the season is complete.
Omer Riza’s charges have five matches left of the current campaign and with a trip to Bristol City next up on Tuesday April 5, Grieves is keen for further progress from an individual and team perspective in the coming weeks.
He added: “I’ve had a few sessions with the Under-23s now. I’m still getting used to the intensity of it, but I think I’m growing into it. It was nice to get a start today which I haven’t done before, and it’s now about fully proving myself at this level.
“The main thing is about how the team perform. We need to take the momentum from today into the next few games, and get as many points as we can from the last five games.”
