Bevans says another Watford cup win shows Academy strength

It was a second successive win over a Premier League opponent in the competition, having beaten Spurs 4-2 in the fifth round.

Now the Hornets could face the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal or Manchester United in the last four, and Bevans spoke of how that shows the successes within Watford’s Academy.

“I was extremely proud of the boys and of the Academy generally, and of the things we’re doing,” he said.

“It was thoroughly deserved.

“I think I said before the game, from the outside looking in I don’t know if Category 2 Academies are expected to beat Category 1 teams.

“But when you look at the last two cup games we’ve thoroughly deserved to win them.

“We’ve created more chances in both, the boys have had to dig in at times, but they have shown really good quality on the ball as well.”

As they did against Spurs, Watford came out, started brightly and got an early lead.

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“I was worried at first because Southampton had kick-off and we didn’t barely touch the ball for two minutes,” said Bevans.

“But the plan is always for us to start on the front foot and not let teams settle, and after that first couple of minutes we got into our rhythm.

“We took a deserved lead and then built on it.”

The goal came from Irish striker Nickson Okosun, who also scored the opener against Spurs and has looked like a senior player in youth football.

“Nickson has been outstanding since he joined the club and I’m really looking forward to see how he progresses,” Bevans said.

“The pleasing thing for me and the staff is he is so willing.

“Coming from Ireland, sometimes their young players want to progress really quickly, but Nickson just wants to play football.

“I spoke to him last week and he said he doesn’t care who he’s playing for, he just wants to play football.

“I think you can see that in his performances, how willing he is, how good his movement is.

“In every game we’ve played he’s got in behind the opposition defence and scored or created a chance which shows he is doing things really well.”

Having got their heads in front the Hornets then saw the visitors drew level with a goal that could have been avoided on a couple of occasions.

“It was a disappointing goal to concede, but we have to remember we are up against good players who are close to Premier League first teams,” Bevans pointed out.

“The lad who took the shot that led to the goal has been in and around the Southampton first team this season.

“Good teams will always have their moments, but it’s about how much we limit their moments while making the most of our own.”

Watford’s reaction to being pegged back was good, and they could easily have scored once or twice more before the break.

“We were disappointed when half-time came because we had got back on top and had two or three really good chances before the whistle blew,” Bevans reflected.

“But I’ve said it before about this group: they can deal with adversity, and we talked about the goal we conceded and how we can’t let it change our mentality.

“It was about us sticking to what we know we do well, not letting our heads go down or getting desperate.

“We stayed with the game plan we had and that ultimately saw us come out on top.”

As the game wore on at 1-1 it was apparent that a mistake from either side could be very costly.

“I thought we were brave when we took the football and looked to play,” said the head coach.

“We made a few changes at half-time to help us stick to the plan, and the longer the game wore on the more confidence I had that we would win.

“I knew we would create chances, they were tiring and our tails were up.

“I thought, on the way the game was going, we deserved the second goal.”

That winning goal was expertly created and then finished magnificently by Zavier Massiah-Edwards.

“It was really intelligent from Nickson to see the ball go out and come alive for a quick throw – that is a principal of ours, when the ball goes dead we come alive,” Bevans said.

“He pinned their defender, Zavier has spun off and then he’s finished really well.

“I was delighted for Zav to get that.”

There were more than 2,000 fans inside Vicarage Road again, and the noise, songs and chants in the closing stages created a tremendous atmosphere.

“It was a beautiful moment when the fans were singing at the end of the game,” Bevans reflected.

“There were times in the second half when I could really hear strong voices among our supporters and I could see that lift the boys.

“The intensity that the noise from our fans brought to the game definitely lifted us.

“I was delighted with the support the boys got last night.”

Tom Cleverley and his first-team squad were among the crowd at Vicarage Road, and then headed down to the dressing room after the game to celebrate.

“The boys were buzzing after the game, and the dressing room was full because Tom and all the first-team players were at the game, and a lot of them came down afterwards to say well done,” smiled Bevans.

“I said a few words but not too much, and then the boys got their music on.

“It was a bit of a party.”