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Watson: "We Were Well Beaten"
Written by Newcastle Utd
Dave Watson struggled to find many positives after his United under-18 side were beaten by Everton
By Tom Easterby
Dave Watson struggled to find many positives after his Newcastle United under-18 side were beaten 4-1 at home by Everton on Saturday.
Former Toffees captain Watson, who won the FA Cup and six England caps during a 15-year stint at Goodison Park, watched as his young team were dismantled by a club where he is regarded as a legend.
The Magpies had recorded a win and a draw, against Derby County and Manchester City respectively, in their previous two games and the 52-year-old had hoped they'd be able to kick on at Little Benton this weekend.
But, instead, he was left to rue the sloppy mistakes which cost United dearly.
"We were well beaten and we couldn't take an awful lot from the game," conceded Watson.
"We gave two bad goals away - a penalty for a pull in the box, which could have been avoided, and a backpass to our goalkeeper which didn't get there - so out of nothing we were 2-0 down.
"The second-half was a lot better but Everton scored a couple of fantastic goals. It's just a couple of sloppy errors and all of a sudden you're 2-0 down when nothing's really happened in the game."
Watson admited the failure to maintain the momentum built from their form of the last fortnight was tough to take, but hopes his youthful charges will be able to add a modicum of consistency to their game - starting at Blackburn Rovers next weekend.
"Overall they were far better than us, and we didn't perform as well as we had done in the previous two games, so it was very disappointing really, especially after we'd done so well in the last two games," he said.
"I thought we'd be able to kick on but we've had a bit of a setback.
"We were thinking that we'd kick on here but it's getting that level of consistency in young kids - you find that all the way through, it takes time.
"We're at that stage at the moment where they're hopefully building up towards that, but it was a set-back and we've just got to crack on.
"Everton were better than us - I'm not making any excuses. Everton played better and we made sloppy mistakes and things that we have to put right."