Watson Positive Despite Baggies Defeat

By Dominic Scurr

Newcastle United Under-18s coach Dave Watson was full of praise for his side despite a difficult 1-0 home defeat to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

Watson described the Magpies' performance as "excellent" although felt there is still plenty of room for improvement after Alex Bradley's long-range effort proved to be the difference between the sides at Little Benton.

"We played some really good football and controlled the game well, particularly in the first half," Watson told nufc.co.uk.

"A lot of the lads showed they are really comfortable with the ball and our distribution was very pleasing.  Overall, it was a really good performance, despite the result.

"It's obviously disappointing to lose and we will be looking to improve on our decision making and creating of chances going forward.

"We saw a lot of the ball and there were a number of times when we were in good areas and the attack broke down because we made the wrong decision.

"Credit to West Brom as they killed the game off well and stopped us playing, but we showed some good determination and were unlucky not to get something from the game."

Newcastle will travel to Wolves next week looking to pick up their first victory of the season and Watson is confident of his team's chances.

"If we play like we did today, I think no matter who we play in this league, we'll give them a good game and will always be in with a chance," he added.