John Landamore Norwich City U18 1, Watford U18 1: In the FA Premier Academy U18 League Norwich City had to come from a goal behind against Watford at Colney on Saturday to grab a share of the points in what was a thrilling game for the Colney regulars.

John Landamore

Norwich City U18 1, Watford U18 1

In the FA Premier Academy U18 League Norwich City had to come from a goal behind against Watford at Colney on Saturday to grab a share of the points in what was a thrilling game for the Colney regulars.

Ricky Martin made a couple of changes to the team that travelled to Manchester United last week bringing in David Cooper having recovered from injury while Nick Davey joined Luke Daley in attack and it was Davey who almost opened the scoring for the Canaries but when under pressure he was unable to keep his shot on target.

Norwich had started brightly and Daley combined well with Davey to create the opening for Damon Lathrope but the Hornets giant keeper Botond Antal made a good save. It was the first of several outstanding saves as he became a thorn in City's side throughout the game.

Canaries keeper Declan Rudd produced a comfortable save to deny Marvin Sordell before the attack quickly switched to the other end where Davey saw a shot blocked. City captain Korey Smith tried his luck from 40 yards when he spotted Antal out of position but his effort was over the bar.

Lathrope failed to hit the target with a free kick shortly after the break but it was the visitors who opened the scoring on 52 minutes when MATTHEW WHICHELOW beat Rudd from close range.

Their lead however only lasted 10 minutes when COOPER celebrated his return after injury with a blistering free- kick.

City certainly had their tails up as they pushed forward but there was no way past the Hornets keeper who denied Davey yet again and then moments later he somehow managed to get his hand to a Smith header which looked a goal all the way.

Late in the game Watford came close to getting their second but the woodwork came to City's rescue but it was Antal who was to have the final say when, with the ball pinging about in the Watford penalty area, Lathrope got his head to the ball but once again with the goal beckoning there was the huge frame of Antal to break City's hearts.

t Norwich City MoM: Luke Daley.

t Norwich City: Rudd, Omeregie, Cooper, Smith, Dumic, Kelly, Adeyemi, Lathrope, Davey, Daley (Brindley 80), Dawkin. Subs not used: Reeves, Clarke, Ball. Watford: Antal, Yiadom, Lavers, Brooks, Oshodi, Hodson, Bryan, Whichelow, Sordell, Mingoia, Gibson. Subs not used: Otshudi, Bond, Angus, Hemati.