Manning: “It Was Fully Deserved”

Winning goalscorer Adian Manning felt Watford’s victory in the FA Youth Cup was a fair result, after the Under-18s beat Cardiff City 2-1 to advance to the fourth round of the competition.

The midfielder, who has now scored in consecutive games, believed he was responsible for Cardiff’s opener on Wednesday night, and was pleased to get a goal for his teammates.

With the Hornets equalising 10 minutes after the opening goal, Manning thought an eventual winning strike was never in doubt.

“I’m buzzing, the team are buzzing,” said Manning. “I think it was fully deserved. We had a game plan and stuck to the game plan, and it worked so I’m delighted.”

“It was my mistake [for the Cardiff goal]. My teammates told me to keep my head up high, we all kept believing and knew we could get a goal back.

“When we got the goal we knew it was our time. Once we got the first we knew the second goal was coming.”

Manning, 18, alongside his teammates, held on to the narrow lead to see out victory at the Cardiff City Stadium, and hopes Watford can use the momentum in future games.

“It was great. We got stuck in, made some vital blocks, it was brilliant,” Manning continued.

“We just need to keep working. We know how good we are, we just need to keep going, keep believing.”