TWO needlesss second half mistakes saw a young Watford Reserves side miss the chance to take at least a point off a vastly more experienced West Ham United team at Vicarage Road on Wednesday night (November 7).

After taking a 20th minute lead through Gary Fisken, Watford impressed for the remainder of the first half, without really threatening to add to their advantage.

But having conceded two goals in three early second half minutes, the home side's confidence appeared to rapidly drain away. Passes frequently went astray, while a growing number of unforced errors crept into their game, enabling the Hammers to run out comfortable 3-1 winners in the end.

Most of the pre-match attention was focused on England and former Hornets keeper David James' continuing return to competitive action following the injury he sustained on international duty against Holland at the start of the season, but he was outshone in the goalkeeping stakes by Richard Lee.

The first-year Hornets professional made three outstanding saves, but apart from his performance, reserve team boss Ray Lewington had little else to be satisfied with.

"I wasn't pleased last night," said Lewington yesterday (Thursday). "It was really, really disappointing. I am realistic to know that, apart from a couple of players, there is no one who has played in the first team.

"I felt we let ourselves down in the last 25 minutes of the game. We lost our discipline, and we will be talking about that becsause I am not happy.

"It was really tough in the first half. We held our discipline well, and it was surprising how well we did.

"Then we had a self-inflicted injury, followed by more sloppy play, and we conceded a second. Then, we felt a little bit sorry for ourselves, and West Ham took over completely. We could have lost four or five one after a good hour against an experienced West Ham side. I wasn't pleased.

"The only good thing to come out of the game was Nick Wright had 20 minutes and looked good."

After a quiet opening spell, Lee came to Watford's rescue for the first time on 11 minutes. Richard Garcia's cross from the left was met with a donward header by Bulgarian international Svetoslav Todorov from eight yards, but the keeper reacted superbly to push the ball out.

Former Liverpool striker Titi Camara then dragged a shot wide off the far post following Nick Williams' defensive slip, but in the 19th minute the home side took a surprise lead.

James Panayi's throw found Jason Norville by the left touchline, and he did well to pull the ball back towards the centre of the area for the on-rushing Fisken, without breaking stride, to beat James low into his bottom left-hand corner with a well-struck shot.

Although Grant McCann's set pieces did create some uncertainty in the Hornets' defensive ranks, the home side generally looked comfortable at the back, while the midfield trio of Fisken, Sam Swonnell and Elliott Godfrey were more than holding their own.

Jamie Hand sent a dipping close range volley over James' bar and Godfrey struck a shot on the turn from the edge of the area at James as Watford looked for second, but, in truth, they rarely threatened to get behind a defence marshalled by Hammers' stalwart Steve Potts.

But all Watford's good first half work was nearly undone just before the interval when Garcia clipped in a ball from the right, and McCann side-stepped a challenge to present himself with a gilt-edged chance. However, Lee somehow got enough of a touch on the shot to deflect it behind.

Then, from McCann's resulting corner, Anwar Uddin headed goalwards, but Williams was in the right place to head off the line.

Clearly disappointed with their first half showing, West Ham switched from a 3-5-2 to a 4-3-3 formation after the break, with Adam Newton pushed forward in support of Todorov and Camara.

There was no apparent danger when Newton and Todorov combined on the right after 51 minutes, but Newton was allowed to advance across the face of the area before finding Camara on the left. Lee managed to get a hand on the low cross, but with Todorov and a defender in the way, he could only palm it out to McCann, who kept his composure to beat the covering Watford defenders on the line.

Three minutes later, Watford's concentration totally went when Todorov was allowed a free header from Garcia's cross, and he beat Lee to his bottom left.

After that, McCann's control let him down at the vital moment after being set up by Newton, Garcia had a shot deflected just wide, then McCann's whipped in free kick deceived everyone before rebounding to safety off the far post.

Watford's second half chances were limited to a Fisken 20-yard shot wide, a Wright shot blocked away for a corner, and a Panayi back post header tipped over by James.

With four minutes remaining, Lee's great reflex stop kept out Garcia's downward header after Matt Langston had completely misjudged a cross-field pass, but the Watford keeper was beaten again in the last minute.

Panayi and Langston let a ball bounce between them, pacey substitute Omer Riza spead away down the left before showing good awareness to pick out McCann on the edge of the area, and he beat Lee low down with a well-struck left-footed shot.

November 9, 2001 10:30