Manchester United ace Ashley Young delighted to finally get on scoresheet with brace at Watford after having goal taken off him four days earlier

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Ashley Young was delighted to end his Premier League goal drought after having to wait a few days extra.

The 32-year-old scored Manchester United's first two goals in Tuesday night's 4-2 win over his former club Watford.

The two long-range strikes were Young's first goals in the league since May 2016 and came after his shot was deflected off Lewis Dunk in Saturday's 1-0 win over Brighton and the goal was later recorded as an own goal by the defender. 

Ashley Young struck twice for Manchester United against former club Watford

'It's nice to get on the scoresheet, I haven't done that in a long while,' Young told BT Sport. 'The game the other day, I tried to claim that one but I'll definitely be claiming those two.'

Anthony Martial made it 3-0 before half-time, but the Hornets roared back through Troy Deeney's penalty and Abdoulaye Doucoure's strike before Jesse Lingard's brilliant solo goal settled United's nerves.

Young added: 'We started well in the first half, but they started brightly as well. Once we got the goals it was a fantastic first half. 

Young's effort proved too powerful for Watford keeper Gomes as it beat him at the near post

Jesse Lingard embraces team-mate Young after he opened the scoring with a drilled strike

'The second, towards the end it was getting a bit nervy, but Jesse came up with the goods.' 

Manager Jose Mourinho admitted his team had made hard work of a game in which they should have been 'smoking a cigar'.

'The second half should be five or 6-0,' he said. 'It was even easier to score in the second half than the first but we missed these chances.

Young bends a free-kick over the wall from 25 yards past Watford keeper Heurelho Gomes

'They were great goals but we missed the (chance for) 4-0 at the end of the first half and in the second we had the chances with an open goal, a free header - lots of chances.

'Then out of nothing it is 3-1 and then the game is different. They had no pressure, nothing to lose but Jesse had that fantastic initiative to win the game.

'It was an easy match to win comfortably, in the last minutes we should be smoking a cigar, but in the end it is three points.' 

Gomes can only watch on as Young's free-kick beats him and lands underneath the crossbar

Watford manager Marco Silva claims his side had paid dearly for their mistakes and pointed to a pair of potentially game-changing moments.

'The first 20 minutes we did very well, we played like we normally play and controlled the match,' he said.

'But against this type of team, when we made mistakes, United went three times in our box and scored three goals.

'We had the chance with Richarlison in the last minute of the first half, if he can score maybe the game would be different.

'The second half we had to do a little bit differently, we scored the first with the penalty - I don't know if it could have been a second yellow card (for Marcos Rojo) with the penalty, maybe then the game is different.'