Eight players with first-team experience were in the starting line-up for Watford’s Under-21 side as they beat QPR B 4-2 last night at Hanwell Town’s Poswerday Stadium.
Perhaps most significantly midfielder Tom Dele-Bashiru played the full 90 minutes as he gains more match time following his recovery from a hamstring injury. Head coach Slaven Bilic explained last week that he needed Dele-Bashiru to be able to get games under his belt.
Three players who featured from the bench in Sunday’s 4-0 win over Luton – Vakoun Bayo, Samuel Kalu and Yaser Asprilla – all played the first 45 minutes of the game last night, while Mattie Pollock and Joseph Hungbo played the full 90.
The Rangers side was also not without a sprinkling of first-team players, including Albert Adomah, George Thomas, Niko Hamalainen and Conor Masterson.
It was Bayo who gave Watford a second-minute lead but the home side levelled just before the interval.
Hornets sub Damani Hunter restored the lead with a header a minute into the second half, but the hosts squared the game again after 67 minutes.
Hungbo put Watford ahead for a third time after 81 minutes and any hopes Rangers had of getting back into the game evaporated when defender Trent Russell was sent off for a second bookable offence three minutes later.
Just to be certain, the Hornets netted a fourth through Jack Grieves in the 86th minute.
Watford: Angelini, Andrews, Morris, Manning, Abbott, Pollock, Hungbo, Dele-Bashiru, Bayo, Asprilla, Kalu. Subs: Adeyemo, Hunter, Grieves and Delyfer for Bayo, Asprilla, Manning and Kalu at half-time; Ortelli not used.
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