Dyche upbeat despite cup exit

Watford manager Sean Dyche was proud of his team despite watching them fall to a 1-0 home defeat to Tottenham in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Only Rafael van der Vaart's 30-yard drive separated the two sides on the night and Dyche was delighted with the way his young Hornets outfit stood the test put to them by the Barclays Premier League high-flyers.

"I felt we were good value," he said. "We worked hard to get reward from our performance and we so nearly did. But credit to them, they found a way to win and sometimes that's what you need to do.

"We are disappointed not to get anything from the game.

"The minimum we deserved was a replay and we could have won it but there were a lot of positives. Six who started were Academy products and that's important to our club."