Youth team coach Dave Hughes believes Alex Jakubiak put in "the complete performance" as the youngster scored a hat-trick in Watford Under-18s' 4-2 win over AFC Bournemouth in the Youth Alliance Cup.

Jakubiak struck twice to put the Hornets in command and after Bournemouth had hit back to draw level at 2-2 in the second half, it was the forward's third goal that restored Watford's advantage.

Substitute Dennon Lewis added a fourth to round off the win late on but Jakubiak, who now has 17 goals in 17 games at Under-18 and Under-21 level, was the star of the show.

"It was a really complete performance from Alex," Hughes told the official club website.

"He was very good in terms of receiving possession and linking play, and very good with his movement off the shoulder to exploit the space behind.

"To get a hat-trick is testament to his desire to try and become better and better all the time.

"He’s still got some work to do but the progress he’s made is nothing short of terrific and we’ve been very pleased with what we’ve seen so far."

Watford's squad included four Under-16 players - Charlie Rowan, Brandon Mason and second half substitutes Andrew Eleftheriou and Max Makaka.

Hughes believes the contest will have been extremely beneficial for the young quartet and praised his team's resilience to come away with a victory.

"I was hugely delighted with the Under-16s who played - they’ve had another taste of Under-18 football so all-in-all it was a really pleasing morning’s work," he said.

"The resilience that the lads showed when we went from 2-0 to 2-2, through a couple of mistakes which we’ll look to try and eradicate moving forward, was very pleasing."

Watford Under-18s: Ammann, Young, Rowan, Hall; Bawling, Cox, Dillon (Lewis, 68), Choi (Makaka, 45), Mason; Otudeko (Eleftheriou, 70), Jakubiak.

Subs not used: Folivi, Cook.