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Watson 'Embarrassed' By Everton Defeat
Written by Newcastle Utd
Under-18 coach Dave Watson could not defend his United side following their 8-0 defeat at the hands of Everton
By Dominic Scurr
Under-18 coach Dave Watson could not defend his Newcastle United side following their 8-0 defeat at the hands of Everton on Saturday.
Owen Bailey's early dismissal for the Magpies set the tone for a disappointing afternoon on Tyneside as hat-tricks from Shayne Lavery and Anthony Evans and goals from Michael Donohue and Morgan Feeney condemned the hosts to their heaviest defeat of the 2015/16 Barclays Under-18s Premier League season.
And Watson felt the early sending-off made an already difficult game even tougher.
"It was always going to be a hard game for us given Everton's place in the table," the former Toffees skipper told nufc.co.uk.
"We had a few under-16s playing as well, so it was a big task for us to get something from the game even with 11 men on the field. To lose someone through a sending-off just makes the job twice as hard.
"It was one of those challenges where the lad is through on goal so bringing him down makes the referee's decision for him. And it obviously changed the game, especially when they punished us straight away from the free-kick.
"But the lads were very good for the majority of the first half, Everton only got their second goal after 44 minutes and they found it hard to break us down for long periods.
"We started okay in the second half but after we went three goals down, then four, I was looking for strong characters in the team to pull us through.
"At that point it was just damage limitation but I didn't see any characters today, which is really disappointing from a managing perspective, and that's why it started to get embarrassing toward the end.
"Too many players were feeling sorry for themselves and threw in the towel to an extent which you don't want to see at any level of the game."
While Watson unsurprisingly struggled to take many positives from the game, he hopes the result will give his players a lot to think about ahead of Saturday's home fixture against league leaders Manchester City.
"Sometimes when you get beat, especially by a high scoreline, you can learn a lot more and it can give you that kick and motivation that you need at this level," he continued.
"And it doesn't get any easier for us (against Manchester City) but hopefully next week we'll have 11 players on the pitch and be able to give a better account of ourselves then."