Watford's youth team coach believes the Under-18s will take momentum into their FA Youth Cup clash at Newcastle United despite a 3-0 defeat to Reading at the weekend.

The Hornets have lost three of their last four matches but David Hughes' side responded well in the second half on Saturday after going 2-0 down in the opening half an hour.

Hughes believes this Thursday's eagerly-anticipated FA Youth Cup fourth round tie at St James' Park may have been playing on his players' minds as they struggled in the first half.

But after the break, Tommie Hoban, Sean Murray and Morgan Ferrier all went close to pulling a goal back before Reading hit the home side on the counter late on.

Hughes said: "I was disappointed with the result obviously. We were too deep and played on the back foot in the first 45 minutes and didn't start playing until we were behind.

"We finished the game well which is pleasing but we were not able to score.

"Credit to the players, they played well in the second half and gave it a go but were then hit on the counter attack. So there were not too many complaints from me afterwards.

"If we had scored then we might have gone on to win the game as we were playing well but were then hit on the counter.

"We made poor decisions at times and were punished by a good Reading side.

"We are underdogs on Thursday but we can take the momentum from the second half into the match."

There will be more from Hughes ahead of the FA Youth Cup clash, which kicks off at 7pm, later in the week.

Watford: Bonham; Wilmore (Horner 27), Hoban, Tumwa, Connolly; O'Nien, Hamilton-Forbes, Eaton, English; Murray (Gardner 70); Ferrier.