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'Game Of Two Halves' Frustrates Watson
Written by Newcastle Utd
Under-18 coach Dave Watson had mixed feelings after his United side edged past non-league Ilkeston in the FA Youth Cup
By Dominic Scurr
Under-18 coach Dave Watson had mixed feelings after his Newcastle United side edged past non-league Ilkeston in the FA Youth Cup third round at the New Manor Ground.
The Magpies looked in complete control at half-time as Lewis McNall's double and one from Mackenzie Heaney gave the visitors a three goal lead, but a valiant second-half display from the Robins saw the match end 3-2 after substitute Roy Lee scored a two-minute brace just moments after coming on.
And while Watson was satisfied to see Newcastle hold out for the victory, he was left disappointed by their performance after the interval.
"We came here to win the game, and that's what we did, but our overall performance was disappointing," Watson told nufc.co.uk.
"You see it all the time - the big clubs go to the smaller clubs and upsets can happen, and it almost did tonight.
"It really was a game of two halves. We were almost too comfortable coming in at half-time at 3-0, and the players expected a similar sort of thing after the break, which caused us some problems.
"No half of football is the same and we found that out the hard way because Ilkeston came out fighting in the second half.
"They could have easily grabbed another goal in the closing stages because they were putting some good balls into the box which made it a really good battle towards the end.
"Full credit to Ilkeston because they played well and they made what seemed to be an easy game for us at half-time, very difficult for us toward the end.
"We've been in situations like this before where we've went a few goals ahead and almost let the other team back into it, so it's something we will hopefully learn from and take into the next game."
The victory sees the Magpies book a home tie with AFC Wimbledon in the fourth round of the famous cup competition, and Watson knows his side will have to learn from their mistakes if they want to avoid another potential upset.
"We need to make things easier for ourselves," he continued.
"The scoreline was probably a fair one and the lads will be pleased to be into the next round playing in front of the St. James' Park crowd, but we will have to raise our game if we want to go far in this competition."