The Hatters were held by Watford in an entertaining U17 Professional Development League Cup tie on Tuesday night.

In an intense, end-to-end affair that befitted a local derby, both sides came close to breaking the deadlock with the Hornets hitting the post in the first half.

As the Town turned the screw in the second half, Joe Deeney’s side took the lead with eight minutes left when Christian Chigozie, pictured above, headed home Dylan Stitt's corner at the back post.

However, with 87 minutes on the clock, Watford grabbed an equaliser to make it 1-1.

Both sides tried to win the game in a frantic final few minutes before the referee called time on a breathless tie.

Despite conceding a late goal, Deeney was proud of his team’s efforts.

“The boys represented the club really well on the night. We wanted to win, of course, but the performance levels and everything else we showed was first class.

“We created lots of good opportunities and played some good high-tempo football.

“There was lots of energy, the intensity, as you’d expect from a derby, was excellent and even though we were rocked by their goal we didn’t crumble and still wanted to win the game.”

Attention now turns to the league for Deeney and the Under-18s who take on league leaders Cheltenham in the Youth Alliance on Saturday morning.

Town: Booth, Roberts-Edema, Benagr, Fox, Chigozie, Sampson, Asamoah, Stitt, Iwhiwhu (M. Takawira), Hincapie-Alfonso (sub Passley-James), Shepherd.

Subs not used: Thomas, Barnes, L. Takawira.