Watford skipper Troy Deeney on pressure FA Cup penalty: ‘I just hit it as hard as I could!’

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Watford captain Troy Deeney held his nerve to keep Watford’s FA Cup dream alive with a stoppage-time penalty – and then admitted, “I just hit it as hard as I could!”.

Deeney’s spot-kick forced extra-time as the Hornets came from 2-0 down to eventually see off Wolves 3-2 at Wembley and book their place in the FA Cup final against Manchester City next month.

Javi Gracia’s side looked certain to be crashing out with 15 minutes to go in normal time after goals from Matt Doherty and Raul Jimenez put Wolves 2-0 up.

However, substitute Gerard Deulofeu gave them hope with a stunning clipped effort, before Leander Dendoncker’s foul gave Deeney the chance to level from the spot in the 94th minute.

Deeney smashes home past Wolves 'keeper John Ruddy at Wembley
Getty Images

“I'm not going to lie, I just hit it as hard as I could,” Deeney said on BT Sport. “You know if you miss you're out so I just had a word with myself and calmed down.

"I'd been practising them but this emotion you can't really create on the training pitch so I took myself away and calmed myself down and got myself in that training pitch mode."

Deulofeu struck the eventual winner in the first half of extra-time, and Deeney believes Watford can kick on again after ending a run of four straight FA Cup semi-final defeats.

"I've said on many occasions that this team has something special. We're not the most talented, we're not all that, but the hard work and desire at 2-0 down - many teams would've called it a day but we kept fighting and kept going and brought the little man [Deulofeu] on, who produced a bit of magic.

"We've got room to grow, there's not a ceiling on us yet a a team. For a club of this size, let's enjoy this moment.

"Manchester City are a formidable team, probably the best team in Europe, but it's a one-off game and we need to come in with belief and know that this hard work can get us a long way."