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Watson's Delight At Wolves Win
Written by Newcastle Utd
Dave Watson believes United's under-18s may have finally turned the corner when it comes to goalscoring
By Tom Easterby
After guiding his side to back-to-back Barclays Under-18 Premier League victories for the first time this season, Dave Watson told nufc.co.uk his side may have finally turned the corner when it comes to scoring goals.
Defeats at the hands of Bolton, Middlesbrough and Liverpool earlier in the campaign had been marred somewhat by a failure to convert the chances that fell their way, but having overseen a recent revival - which has included wins over Derby County and Blackburn, as well as a draw at Manchester City - Watson believes his youngsters can kick on having smashed four past Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
"It was a good, disciplined performance from the lads," said the former England centre-half following the 4-3 triumph.
"We kept a really good team shape and counter-attacked very well, and got two or three of the goals from that, which is what we were planning on doing so it worked quite well.
"We took the lead and then they got back into the game a bit, but we kept going which was really good. One of the substitutes, Lewis Suddick, came on and chipped in with a goal, which was fantastic, and even the lads on the bench are contributing to games which shows that everyone's chipping in.
"There's been some games we've played this season where we could have come away with a win and we've lost by the odd goal, but it seems to be at the moment that we're scoring goals, getting opportunities and we look very lively on the front foot.
"We did concede three on Saturday, but we're making a lot of chances at the other end and we're pushing to score goals."
United now head into the mid-season break having taken maximum points from their last two games after Joe Kerridge's winner in the 3-2 victory at Blackburn last weekend.
And Watson reckons there's both an upside and a downside to having their momentum halted by the untimely three-week pause in competitive action.
"We've got a few lads that are injured and it'll give them an opportunity to play catch-up, get fit and we could have a fully-fit squad by the time we start again," he explained.
"From that point of view it's good, but we are on a bit of a run at the moment and it would be nice to keep on going, but there's not much we can do about that."