THERE will be no fourth FA Youth Cup final appearance in five years as Liverpool Youth crashed out in the fifth round of the competition against Watford at Anfield last night.
A debatable penalty in the first half – fired home by Piero Mingoia – gave Watford a 1-0 victory over Rodolfo Borrell’s youngsters.
Liverpool will be hugely disappointed as they never really got into any attacking rhythm until late on. And they rarely provided the ammunition for the likes of last season’s top scorer Lauri Dalla Valle and Tom Ince to show their finishing ability.
It is Watford who take on Chelsea in the quarter-finals as Liverpool are left to rue their lacklustre display.
In the previous round Liverpool had started brightly and went on to score an emphatic 5-1 victory over Leicester. But they could never hit those heights following a slow start. But after a scrappy opening 12 minutes when neither side created much, Liverpool should really have taken the lead. From Ince’s corner on the right, captain Conor Coady headed goalwards but his effort was blocked by team-mate Michael Ngoo.
Liverpool were left to rue that near miss five minutes later when Watford took the lead from the penalty spot.
Stephen Sama was harshly adjudged to have held Watford captain Eddie Oshodi by referee Matthew Bristow. And from the resultant kick Mingoia sent Deale Chamberlain the wrong way to put the visitors ahead.
Watford almost got in again on 20 minutes but Wisdom did well to clear from Massey’s pull-back.
If was the first time Liverpool had been behind in this season’s Youth Cup, and they faced a tough task breaking down a busy and energetic Watford side as they attacked the Kop in the second half.
Coach Borrell made two changes at the break with recent signing, Icelandic attacker Kristjan Emilsson, and Hungarian forward Krisztian Adorjan replacing Ngoo and Ellison. And Liverpool were much brighter in the second half.
On 64 minutes Dalla Valle’s venomous free-kick was deflected wide, while Chamberlain denied Matty Whichelow at the other end.
Liverpool, though, just couldn’t find a way through a solid Watford defence, superbly marshalled by skipper Oshodi. And when they did they invariably picked the wrong pass.
