Watford Under-18s striker Ryan Cassidy has spoken about how disappointed he was after the Hornets lost away at Liverpool in the semi-final of the FA Youth Cup.

The 17-year-old, who was captain for the game, did get on the score sheet but it was not enough to overcome a dominant first half display from the Reds.

However, as a lifelong Liverpool fan, Cassidy managed to fulfil a childhood dream by scoring in front of the Kop on a day of mixed emotions.

"I’m happy that I scored at the Kop end, but I’m sad because obviously we’ve come this far and we thought that we could have got to the final," he said.

"I’m so proud because coming into the FA Youth Cup, no one expected us to get past the first round we were in. We did, and then the second and then the momentum kept going but just today wasn’t our day, they were better than us on the day."

Cassidy believes that the Hornets gave their hosts too much respect during the game and that had they performed as well as they had in previous rounds, the outcome might have been different.

He said: "In the first half we gave them too much respect. In the second half, the first ten or 15 minutes they were still there, but after that we were pressing them better, keeping the ball better and the last 15 minutes we were keeping the ball better than we had for the whole match.

"I had maybe another chance that I came across but I dragged it wide. They had a few chances before that and we rode our luck but on another day we could have got that victory."