Watson: 'We Lacked A Killer Touch'

By Tom Easterby

Dave Watson felt his young side lacked a cutting edge in the final third after watching them go down 3-1 to Bolton Wanderers at Little Benton on Saturday.

The Newcastle United Under-18s coach saw his youngsters fight back after conceding a goal early on, but despite Sean Longstaff's equaliser before the break, a Jamie Thomas double handed the visitors the points.

Former Everton defender Watson praised the application of his team but lamented their failure to break down a resolute Wanderers backline.

"We had a lot of the ball but we didn't have that killer touch in front of goal," the 52-year-old told nufc.co.uk.

"We put a lot of balls in the box and looked quite dangerous but we just didn't have that touch to put it in the goal. Some weeks we'd have scored three or four goals today, but it didn't happen for us.

"We can't fault the lads' effort - they put a lot of effort into it without actually having the quality to create too many chances."

Despite having the lions' share of possession, particularly in the second half, the Magpies were undone by what Watson explained were a couple of mistakes at the back.

The ex-England international was happy with the resilience his youthful charges showed to get themselves back into contention before the break and hopes they can learn from their errors and build on the positives in next weekend's game at Middlesbrough.

"The last two goals have been defensive errors on our part," he said.

"They scored a great first goal from 20 yards out, right into the top corner, which we couldn't do an awful lot about, and we did well to get back into the game.

"To come back into it, the lads did well, and it's just a moment and lack of concentration and you get punished for it, and that's what they're learning - that's what they're here for. Hopefully we'll move on and put it right in the next game."