Harry Kewell believes Jerome Sinclair and Adrian Mariappa needed game time with Watford's Under-23 side as they bid to earn a place in the club's first team squad.

Sinclair was close to a loan move to Norwich City which fell through on transfer deadline day while Mariappa has yet to feature in the first team since his return to Watford last month.

Both players started for Kewell's side in Monday's 4-1 defeat against Sheffield Wednesday with Sinclair opening the scoring for the Hornets.

Under-23 coach Kewell said: "It was good for Jerome to put up his hand to play because he knows that he needs to play and the same with Mariappa. I think both of them were confident in the way that they played.

"You could see that they need minutes and like I said they worked hard which I was happy with.

"I think it's always great for these young lads to actually sit there and play with players like this because they've been there and done it. For these players to actually play with them they know what it takes."

With Walter Mazzarri's team playing so well in the Premier League, following back-to-back wins over West Ham and Manchester United, Kewell knows players such as Mariappa and Sinclair will need to make a big impression to challenge for a first-team spot.

The Australian said: "You look at the first team now and they're flying. They played excellent on the weekend and they played really well against West Ham. It's taken a while to adjust to the system but they've been fantastic.

"But it's good because now my players, if they want to make an impression, have to step even higher to even attempt to go into the first team because they are playing excellent at the moment."