Goalscorer Albert Eames and goalkeeper Jonathan Macualay shared their thoughts after Watford’s Under-21s fell to a 3-1 defeat against Fleetwood Town at Vicarage Road.
Eames levelled the scores on the stroke of half-time after Pharrell Brown had put the Fishermen in front early on, but further goals for George Morrison and Theo Williams put paid to any hopes of a share of the spoils for Charlie Daniels’ Young Hornets.
Read what Eames and Macaulay had to say below…
Eames
It was a very good experience out there, playing at The Vic for the first time this season. Obviously it’s not the result we wanted, but personally it was great to get on the scoresheet.
I just received the ball and stepped inside, where I saw there was space. I tried to bend it around their centre-back and it went in the goal. I’ve had a couple of similar efforts in training and I thought it was probably 50/50, but as soon as it left my foot I knew it was good.
They had some good players, and they played long balls and played off their front men. I think we deserved something from the game, but we have to reflect on our performances and go again now against Sheffield Wednesday next week.
It’s great to play for Charlie Daniels. I worked with him last season in the Under-18s, so I’m used to the way he works. He’s a great coach, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what the rest of the season brings.
Macaulay
I think there were a lot of things we could have done better throughout the game, but the boys gave it everything. We went 1-0 down and then got back to 1-1; when we went behind again we did what we could but ultimately it just wasn’t meant to be.
In the opening period of every half we do try to lock it in so we have a foundation to build on. Unfortunately today Fleetwood scored early which put us on the backfoot, and that’s definitely something we’re going to have to go back and analyse.
We were a bit slow out of the blocks in the first half, but after we equalised I think we looked like the better team. We definitely didn’t lack spirit, we just couldn’t produce the goal we needed and in the end they took their chances.
I’m really happy to see Albert score. It’s something we’ve been working on as a team - with the patterns of play - and it’s something we’ve seen him do in training from time to time, so it was great to see it go in.
