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Below-par Under-18s suffer FA Youth Cup disappointment

Watford 4-2 Spurs (FA Youth Cup)

Thu 13 February 2025, 21:02|Tottenham Hotspur

Our nine-man Under-18s were out of character and out of luck, enduring a miserable night at Watford in the FA Youth Cup on Thursday.

Going into the fifth-round tie on an eight-match unbeaten run stretching back to the end of October, our youngsters seemed well placed to take the game to the Professional Development League side under the lights at Vicarage Road.

But after a promising first few minutes, we suffered a disastrous evening, shipping four goals and seeing two players sent off to exit the competition in disappointing fashion.

Reiss Elliott-Parris gave us a lifeline in the first half after Nickson Okosun and Amin Nabizada had put the hosts 2-0 up inside 18 minutes, but the dismissals of defender Malachi Hardy and striker Elliott-Parris either side of the break left us firmly up against it, with Nabizada scoring his second from the penalty spot moments after Hardy's red card to compound our misery. With nine men, we switched to a 3-4-1 formation and attacked whenever we could, Tye Hall pulling one back from Harry Byrne's free-kick, but after Max Smith's drive deflected off defender Luca Furnell-Gill and went in via the far post to make it 4-2 with eight minutes remaining, there was no coming back.

Although we looked bright in the first few moments, Watford's Nabizada fired off an early warning shot with a cushioned effort before Okosun opened the scoring in the ninth minute, racing in down the left side and poking a low shot past advancing goalkeeper Sam Archer from a tight angle. The hosts were gleefully running in behind as they exploited our high defensive line and after Okosun was denied by a great block from retreating defender Jun'ai Byfield, Nabizada doubled their lead on 18 minutes when he curled a right-footed effort in off the far post after a corner wasn't cleared.

We were gifted a goal back four minutes later when Raul Vancea's attempted backpass went straight to Elliott-Parris and he finished emphatically for his second strike in as many games, but our task was made a lot tougher on 44 minutes when centre-back Hardy picked up a second yellow card and consequent red for a challenge on Leo Ramirez-Espain at the side of our box. Watford pressed home the advantage straight away, Vancea winning a penalty when Elijah Upson was adjudged to have fouled him, with Nabizada sending Archer the wrong way from 12 yards to make it 3-1.

Things got worse still five minutes after the restart when Elliott-Parris was shown a straight red card for his challenge on Vancea, reducing us to nine men. We stayed as compact as we could at the back in the face of Watford's continuing advances and managed to pull a goal back on 72 minutes when Hall arrived at the back post to convert Harry Byrne's free-kick for his first Under-18s goal. The hosts fashioned a couple of half-chances but it was effectively game over eight minutes from time when Smith's drive from the right took a wicked deflection off substitute Furnell-Gill and went in off the far post. Byrne fired a late free-kick wide, but the damage was done in a below-par display from Stuart Lewis' team, with Watford advancing to a home quarter-final date with Southampton.

'To lose another player made it really tough'

Under-18s Coach Stuart, who played in the equivalent FA Youth Cup fixture between these sides at Vicarage Road 20 years ago, felt the sending-off of Elliott-Parris at the start of the second period impacted our chances of turning the tie around.

"It was a really disappointing evening. It hurts to go out of the competition, and there's lots to reflect on and plenty to learn from the game," he said.

"The message at half-time was positive. We felt that we could get back into the game - that was the belief - and we felt there would have been some big opportunities for us, but to then lose another player I think made it really tough. The boys still dug in and showed brilliant character to keep working and obviously we got it back to 3-2 through probably our two stand-out performers on the night in Harry Byrne and Tye Hall, so that was just reward for them, but it was really tough with nine men and it's an evening that we'll all on reflect on and review. The boys have to learn a lot from nights like this."

Watford 4-2 Spurs (FA Youth Cup)

Watford: Morris, Stephenson, Vancea (Notley 72), Sanghrajka (Riza 87), Moulton, Georgiou (c), Odiase (Shevchenko 72), Ramirez-Espain, Okosun (Norville 90), Nabizada (Smith 64), Massiah-Edwards. Substitutes (not used): Braverman, Akinyimika.

Spurs: Archer (c), Upson (Moncur 76), Byrne, Byfield (Furnell-Gill 58), Hardy, Tye Hall, Adewole, Beggs (Feeney 58), Elliott-Parris, Williams-Barnett (Lehane 63), T Thompson (Oliver 76). Substitutes (not used): B Irow, Bangura.

Match data

Goals: Watford - Okosun 9, Nabizada 18, 45+1 (pen), Furnell-Gill (OG) 82; Spurs - Elliott-Parris 22, Hall 72.

Yellow cards: Spurs - Hardy 28, 44.

Red cards: Spurs - Hardy 44, Elliott-Parris 50.

Referee: Tom Ellsmore.

Venue: Vicarage Road, Watford.

Weather: Light cloud, light winds, three degrees.

Attendance: 2,021.