A stirring and gutsy comeback saw Watford Under-21s score three times in the last 10 minutes to beat Peterborough 4-3 at Vicarage Road and claim their first win of the season.

The young Hornets came on strong in the latter part of both halves, but their slow start each time cost them as they went 1-0 down and were then 3-1 down with 12 minutes to go.

It was an impressive cameo from substitute Laken Torres, the 18-year-old Spaniard who moved to Vicarage Road in the summer after a spell with National League side Chesterfield, that swung the game.

Torres made his mark with a bullet header and then levelled things up with a good poacher’s goal, both in the space of two minutes.

A fine strike in stoppage time from Charlie Davis won it for Watford but amid all the late excitement it shouldn’t be forgotten that Watford’s first goal was a free kick of top quality from James Collins.

The No.9 did something rarely seen from a player in yellow at Vicarage Road in recent years when he struck a vicious low, curling free kick with ferocity and accuracy to cancel out the visitors’ opening goal.

Boss Charlie Daniels will have been delighted with character his side showed, as well as their determination to stick to the shape, game plan and pattern even when they were staring defeat in the face.

George Abbott, who had been recalled early from his loan spell at Chippenham Town, came straight back in and captained the team.

Jack Grieves brought some first-team experience to a starting XI that had an otherwise youthful look about it.

In the 14th minute Abbott tussled with Gabriel Drew-Overton in the box, the visitors’ striker went to the floor and referee Mr Searle gave a penalty that Posh skipper Charlie O’Connell tucked away.

Three minutes later a Watford attack was half cleared and Luigi Gaspar strode onto the loose ball but sent a 25-yard effort way over the target.

A good move down the right in the 21st minute ended with Grieves letting fly from the edge of the box, the ball deflected wide for a corner.

The next attack then ended with Davis receiving the ball inside the box on the right but he saw his shot blocked.

In the 25th minute a low cross from Davis was laid off by Collins but Grieves screwed his shot wide.

Just after the half-hour mark Watford drew level in some style. Having won a free kick 20 yards out towards the right of the box, Collins stepped up and curled a ferocious effort round the wall and inside the upright – keeper Jake West wasn’t far away but the sheer power of the effort beat him.

On the hour a miscued clearance presented Grieves with the ball inside the box. His first touch took him wide but he managed to unleash an angled shot that West parried and the loose ball ran just beyond Collins.

Peterborough responded straight away and Gergo Janos Bodnar cut in from the right flank and curled a low-left-footed shot which beat the diving Jonathan Macaulay but bounced back off the base of the post.

Then Collins wriggled free in the box and his low cross ran across the face of goal. Grieves chased and retrieved but his driven cross was blocked.

In the 73rd minute Peterborough regained the lead. A cross from the left was only partly cleared and Harley Mills thumped a first-time shot past Macaulay.

The visitors thought they had the points in the bag five minutes later. Bodnar broke down the right and sent in a low, early cross which the sliding Gabriel Drew Overton bundled past Macaulay in a crowded six-yard box.

Watford Observer: Charlie Davis unleashes the winnerCharlie Davis unleashes the winner (Image: Alan Cozzi/Watford FC)

But then in the 81st minute substitute Dawid Hamiga sent over a corner from the right and fellow sub Torres steamed in to head home and make it 3-2.

And two minutes later it was 3-3 as a move that started out on the right ended with Albert Eames crossing low from the left and Torres slid in to poke the ball home.

Eames then broke down the flank and rolled the ball inside to Collins. His cross was blocked but ran back to him, and the striker sent in a shot that West parried.

And finally the total turnaround was completed two minutes into stoppage time.

Davis broke down the left and got into the box. The visitors may have been expecting a cross but the midfielder had other ideas and curled a shot beyond West that hit the underside of the bar and went in.

The win lifts Watford to sixth in the Premier League Professional Development League South table.

Watford: Macaulay, Balogun, Eames, Coyne (Stallard 90), Abbott, Mullins, Davis, Gaspar (Torres ht), Collins, Grieves (Hamiga 69), Trialist (Ramirez-Espain 79).