Watford Under-21 duo Ryan Andrews and Scott Holding were pleased to secure an important 1-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers at Vicarage Road.

Britt Assombalonga’s first-half goal, combined with a solid defensive display, set the foundation for three significant points in the Professional Development League.

The defensive pair felt that their efforts deserved the win, with Andrews happy to have played his part.

Andrews said: “It is a good feeling, especially because lately results haven’t gone our way. Today I feel like we played well, we were comfortable on the ball and we got our chances. Overall, it was a good game.

“I always feel like once you get a goal early on you get a boost, and it was good for us to get that goal because we haven’t had many chances recently.

“Omer [Riza, Under-21 Lead Coach] said [at half-time] to carry on. We had a lot of spells going forward and we knew that if we carried it on then we would get the win like we did.

“I felt like we handled the pressure quite well. In the first half we had the senior players and then in the second half most of them came off. Once we went back to our young side, I felt like we handled the pressure quite well.

“Chris Wilder [Watford Head Coach] said at full-time that he was impressed with both the seniors and the youngsters. He felt that we ran for each other and we played well. It was good.”

Meanwhile, Holding was delighted to keep a clean sheet and learn from his senior-squad counterparts such as Christian Kabasele and João Ferreira.

“It was a great win,” Holding added. “I think the boys deserved it, and we’ve had a few dodgy results recently so we’ve been out on the training pitch, worked hard and we deserved that result today.

“It was a learning experience for me as a younger player, and I think Kabasele really helped me through the game. With his experience, it definitely helped. I want to bring their qualities into my game, so it was great to have them on the pitch and they helped us out today.

“At the start of the season we didn’t have the greatest start, and it’s been good to build from there and we have come together as a team. A clean sheet is always good as a defender!”