From my perspective, very much a game of two halves today at Landore.
4-0 wouldn’t have flattered us at half-time, it probably did at full-time.
We lined up in a familiar and fluid 3-4-2-1 style, with some positional changes for a number of players: Ben Hughes; Harry Jones, Brandon Cooper, Kian Jenkins (Joe Thomas 81m); Corey Hurford, Azeem Abdulai, Joel Cotterill, Nathanael Ogbeta (Lincoln McFayden 63m, in turn substituted by Kai Ludvigsen 68m); Cameron Congreve, Tarrelle Whittaker (Ben Lloyd 83m); Geoff Bony.
Watford stood off us in the first half, allowed us the run of midfield and offered very little threat themselves. We peppered the visitors’ goal with shots, 2 of which gave us a thoroughly deserved decisive early lead through Kian Jenkins (2m) and Tarrelle Whittaker (7m).
Watford came out far more aggressively after half-time – their centre forward trialist notably giving Brandon Cooper plenty of shoves to try to unsettle him – and they actively reduced the amount of space we had to work with in the middle. The key moment for them came when Abbott put a completely free header wide of goal just after the hour. The visitors didn’t come as close again. Although our 2nd half performance came in fits and starts, our 2 late – and very good – goals slightly flattered us with the game taken as a whole.
Nevertheless, there were very strong displays from Joel Cotterill and from Cameron Congreve, who scored a sublime 3rd goal by making space for himself to shoot from distance. Ben Lloyd could also count himself unlucky not to get on the scoresheet.
Lincoln McFayden had to come off soon after entering the pitch – it looked like concussion, but he was fit enough to walk back around the pitch after a spot of attention back in the dressing rooms. Corey Hurford shifted flanks to allow Joe Thomas to make some telling darting runs on the right in the closing stages.