Gianfranco Zola hailed the work of Watford’s academy after some of the club’s youngsters impressed in the Hornets’ 6-1 pre-season win over Boreham Wood last night.

The club has faced criticism in recent months for turning its back on Watford's home-grown roots but Zola named 13 Academy graduates and another two British players in the 18-man squad for the Hornets' final pre-season friendly.

“The younger players are all picking things up very quickly and I was pleased with the way they performed,” he said.

“At the end of the day it’s about football - if you deserve to play and you perform, your passport doesn’t matter.

“I was delighted and it means obviously the academy is working very well - I said many times last year the work they are doing below me in the academy is excellent and I take a lot benefits from that so I'm very pleased.

“Both of the wing backs were good – Harry [Kyprianou] on the left especially was excellent and Bernard [Mensah] and Uche [Ikpeazu] were good as well – it means their attitude was good and they believe in what they are doing.

“It is a process - the more you play, the more you get accustomed to what you’re doing and the confidence goes up especially after results like this.

“I know it’s against non-league opposition but for them it will be very important. It’s good to get the confidence high.”

Only a handful of players involved last night are expected to be involved on Saturday when Watford open up their Championship season away to Birmingham City.

The first-team squad were rested after beating Granada 2-0 last weekend and Zola said he believes they are ready for the new campaign.

“They are in very good condition,” he said. “The other day we played a very good game against Granada.

“They keep working well in training so I know we are going to be ready for the first game of the season.”

One first-teamer who was involved against Boreham Wood was defender Joel Ekstrand, who has recently recovered from an ankle injury.

“Joel has lost a lot of time, he has been training on his own, but when you come back on the pitch it’s a different story,” Zola said. “Today he started slowly but got better and better so I am very pleased.”