Watford Under-18s lose 3-0 to Norwich (From Watford Observer)

Watford Under-18s lose 3-0 to Norwich City

10:35am Tuesday 20th March 2012 in Watford FC Academy By Joe Whitbread

Watford Under-18s lost their third match in a row after a 3-0 defeat to Norwich City on Saturday.

Manager Dave Hughes' selection was influenced by the fact that several players were either injured, involved with the first team or out on loan.

Hughes again took the opportunity to use players from the Under-16s ahead of next season, including Ollie Cox and Jorrell Johnson.

Despite dominating early on, Norwich did not open the scoring until first-half stoppage time before adding two further goals after the interval.

The woodwork came to the Hornets’ rescue early on when midfielder Dean Florence curled an effort beyond Dan Wilkes only to see the ball crash off the inside of the post before being cleared.

Watford’s Dereece Gardner then saw a header saved before Wilkes kept out Reece Hall-Johnson’s shot.

Deep into first-half stoppage time, the visitors went behind when Murphy side-footed the ball beyond Wilkes.

Wilkes again saved well from Josh Murphy but City added their second on 80 minutes when Clunan’s corner was met by McKenzie, who headed home.

Norwich added a third in injury time when Murphy intercepted a free kick to set Jamar Loza away and he beat Wilkes with a low shot.

Watford: Wilkes; Horner, Johnson (Robertson, 65), Akubuine, Willmore; English, Cox, Hamilton-Forbes, Kalu; O’Nien, Gardner (Ferrier, 45). Subs not used: Eaton, Bawling, O’Conner.