DAVID Dodds' youngsters put Wingate and Finchley to the sword on Saturday with Watford's crop of youngsters looking increasingly impressive.

A brace form Ewan Clarke and a further strike from Kieran Forbes saw the Watford XI run out 3-2 winners at the Harry Abrahams stadium.

A knee injury to goalkeeper James Beasant saw his late replacement come in the form of Boreham Wood's Callum Horton.

And aside from the injury to Johan Cavalli, David Dodds had a healthy crop of youngsters along with the experience of Steve Kabba to do his talking.

Practically from the kick off, Watford were on the attack with Toumani Diagouraga testing Dave Lovell in the Wingate goal. Al Bangura had produced a weaving run to set up his team mate, but the strike from the edge of the box didn't trouble the keeper.

Moments later, Alex Campana stroked the ball into the box, but the pace on it was just that bit too much for the on rushing Steve Kabba, who could only look on as it spun out for a goal kick.

He was to come closer though and with ten minutes on the clock, his lofted shot had to be tipped over the bar by Lovell and it became clear that Kabba was going to be a handful all afternoon.

Kieran Forbes presented the next attack, but again Watford couldn't make the stopper earn his keep as his effort drifted wide.

It was only then that Wingate offered their first attack when James Gershfield beat his man to cross into the box, but his effort was wide of the target and also his team mates.

Kabba then looked a certainty to open the scoring. Leaving the Wingate defence clueless as to which way he was going to twist and turn next, he picked his spot and delicately rolled the ball past the keeper and towards the empty net. But such was the delicate nature of his shot that Lovell was able to scramble goalwards and retrieve it before it spun over the line.

Following yet another Kabba effort, Ewan Clarke then took matters into his own hands to open the scoring. Coolly rounding the keeper, he past him to put the Hornets in front.

Five minutes before the break, Watford doubled their lead.

There was a steward's enquiry as to whether Clarke had hit the post or the keeper square in the face, but the outcome remained the same. Forbes raced in to collect the loose ball and calmly placed it into the back of the net.

The second half was barely underway when Wingate pulled a goal back. Craig Falconbridge out-jumped the Watford stopper and knocked the ball in to get the home side back in the game.

But Watford soon pulled back their two goal lead when Clarke got his second of the game. Campana played in Kabba, who then pulled the ball back for Clarke to slot home.

Then followed a brief interlude where David Dodds allowed some of the younger players a run out. Liam Henderson, Eddie Oshodi, Lewis Young and Billy Gibson were all introduced.

Despite a second goal from Falconbridge in the final five minutes, the youngsters more than held their own, coming close on several occasions form set pieces.

After the game, Dodds spoke of his delight at how his men performed: "I'm very happy with how the team played overall.

"I thought that in the first half, the only disappointment was that we should have been about 5-0 up. But we spoke about that and also of some defensive sloppiness at half time.

"We came out slowly in the second half and weren't really awake when they hit us. Their goal came from a cross that we should have prevented, but we remained calm and were soon back in it.

"We made it a bit difficult for ourselves for the last ten minutes, but by then we had a lot of young lads out there who were just there for the experience.

"I thought that Steve Kabba and Ewan Clarke worked well together up front and that Al Bangura and Toumani Diagouragaran the centre of the midfield.

"Junior Osborne was also impressive at the back where he really helped out some of the younger players."

WINGATE AND FINCHELY: Lovell, Amarteifio, Ellis, O'Brien, Helman, Falconbridge, Nelson, Gershfield, Clarke, Weatherstone, Assiamah, Jay, Elliot, Patrosic

WATFORD XI: Callum Horton, Ross Jenkins, Junior Osborne, Dale Bennett, Raphael Brown, Keiron Forbes, Al Bangura, Toumani Diagouraga, Alex Campana, Steve Kabba, Ewan Clarke, Aaron Morgan, Rob Kiernan, Lewis Young, Billy Gibson, Marvin Sordell, Eddie Oshodi, Liam Henderson

BOOKINGS: WINGATE AND FINCHELY; none. WATFORD XI; none

GOALS: WINGATE AND FINCHLEY; Falconbridge (46, 86). WATFORD XI; Clarke (20, 60), Forbes (40).