Watford’s youth cup journey came to an end on Sunday as Liverpool’s quality shone through in a close 2-1 defeat at Anfield.

The Hornets were led out on to the field by Liverpool fan Ryan Cassidy, but on the day there was little he could do to prevent Liverpool from winning the fixture after a dominating first half display from the hosts, despite scoring late on.

A first half brace for Liverpool’s top scorer Paul Glatzel gave Liverpool a two goal advantage inside 25 minutes before Cassidy’s late goal halved the deficit to salvage some pride for the Hornets.

In a fairly uneven first half, it was the visitors who had the first shot on goal when Sonny Blu Lo-Everton struck from the edge of the area in the fifth minute after a neat pass from Jayden Bennetts, but it was well saved by Luca Ashby-Hammond, who had little else to do in the first 45.

After that the home side started to dominate possession and gave Watford some cause for concern at the back with Glatzel making a nuisance of himself inside the 18-yard-box.

Glatzel, who is top scorer for the Liverpool youth side, opened the scoring in the tenth minute of play after a lack of communication at the back between Harry Hudson and Dante Baptiste gifted Bobby Duncan a one-on-one.

The keeper did well to save the first shot, but the rebound fell to Glatzel who finished in the empty net in front of the Kop, whose 200 or so supporters let out an appreciative ripple of applause.

Watford tried their best to create chances at the other end and came close when a teasing delivery from the right from Emmanuel Adebiyi flashed across the face of goal, but neither Lo-Everton nor Cassidy were able to get a touch to divert it goalwards.

An error from Luca Ashby-Hammond in the Liverpool goal gave Watford half a chance to score after he came out of his area to header clear a lost ball, but mistimed his jump.

However, Cassidy and Lo-Everton ended up running into one another after neither called to lay claim to the loose ball.

Liverpool doubled their advantage in the 25th minute after Leighton Clarkson slipped a ball through to Jake Cain who rounded the keeper in the box and pulled it back from the by-line to Duncan, but Ryan MacLean threw himself in front of the strike before Ben Tricker kept the rebound out, but there was nothing anyone could do to prevent Glatzel from putting it in to the empty net to claim his second of the game.

Glatzel’s strike partner Duncan looked desperate to add his name to the scoresheet, but could not get the luck he needed to find the net.

Many inside Anfield thought he had after Abdi Sharif picked out Clarkson, whose pass gave Duncan a decent amount of time and space on the edge of the area, but his shot crashed into the side netting.

Watford found a rare sight on goal with ten minutes left of the first half when Daniel Phillips took aim from the edge of the area after Baptiste’s free kick was cleared away, but his strike was straight at Ashby-Hammond and it was an easy save for the keeper.

There was still time for Duncan to be given another sight of goal before the interval after Glatzel laid the ball on a plate for him, but the striker, who is Steven Gerrard’s cousin, couldn’t find the net from 12 yards out and put it wide keeping the score 2-0 at the break.

The game was less one-sided in the second half and Watford gave a better account of themselves, as they matched Liverpool for strength, while riding their luck defensively at times.

Cassidy had half a chance to bring the Hornets back into the game in the 57th minute after he burst into the box, but he was just unable to put his shot on target under pressure from some robust Liverpool defenders.

Some heroics by Baptiste in the Watford goal helped to prevent the home side from adding to their first-half strikes, although he was helped out by his crossbar when Yasser Larouci smashed a shot off the woodwork from close range.

Cassidy would go on to fulfil his childhood dream of scoring in front of Anfield’s famous Kop end with a well taken strike after he pounced upon a loose ball, but with just ten minutes left on the clock it came too late for Watford to salvage the tie and they narrowly slipped out of the competition.