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Football

Sky Bet Championship: Watford 4-0 Luton Town

Watford’s first home game against Luton Town in 16-and-a-half years ended in a 4-0 victory in the Sky Bet Championship, with goals from Keinan Davis, William Troost-Ekong, Joo Pedro, and Ismaela Sarr prompting wild celebrations at Vicarage Road.

Davis opened the scoring with an acrobatic goal in the first few minutes, before Troost-Ekong increased the lead at the opposite end of a tense first half.

The Hornets picked up where they left off after the interval, with Joo Pedro blasting home the third following an Ethan Horvath error, before Sarr added a fourth and a Gabriel Osho red card to round up the drama.

The remarkable performance and result moves Watford up to 10th in the second-tier rankings after 16 games, and Head Coach Slaven Bili and his players will be aiming to continue their winning streak away to Wigan Athletic on Saturday October 29.

Bili made three changes to the team that lost to Millwall the previous week, with Craig Cathcart and Joo Pedro starting in place of Mattie Pollock and Yáser Asprilla, and Edo Kayembe replacing Imrân Louza.

And the Hornets raced out of the blocks in front of a raucous Vicarage Road crowd, with Davis capitalising on the game’s first genuine chance with an incredible scorpion-kick finish from Hassane Kamara’s cross to make it 1-0 in the third minute.

After Cathcart had stopped Carlton Morris’ opening effort, Allan Campbell was at the heart of Luton’s reaction almost soon after the restart, firing a shot barely wide of Daniel Bachmann’s right-hand post.

For the Hatters, Luke Freeman’s feeble header was readily gathered by Bachmann, but Davis was soon back on the attack for Watford with a left-footed shot that forced a brilliant Horvath stop.

In the 12th minute, Sarr clashed with James Bree in the Luton box, and after the Senegalese striker unsuccessfully protested for a penalty, Sonny Bradley was awarded the game’s first yellow card for a late tackle on the energetic Joo Pedro.

The significance of the moment was highlighted by the Luton bench’s reaction to Bradley’s booking – notably by manager Nathan Jones – but when play restarted, it was the hosts on the offensive, with Horvath doing well to deal with a piercing Kamara cross.

On the half-hour mark, Kayembe – still looking for his first goal in yellow – kept Horvath busy with a low effort, before Elijah Adebayo headed over after beating Bachmann in the air.

Davis came close to adding his and the team’s tally two minutes before halftime after outmuscling Bradley inside the area, but Troost-Ekong did tap home from close range – following a well-worked corner – to make it 2-0.

After the break, the play resumed at an expected high speed, and Alfie Doughty was promptly awarded a yellow card for a risky foul on Ken Sema, which did not go down well with the home crowd.

In the 53rd minute, half-time replacement Osho could have put Luton ahead, but he failed to connect with the ball unguarded at the back post, and only four minutes later, Joo Pedro exploited a wayward Horvath pass to extend Watford’s advantage to three.

A reckless Harry Cornick attempt with less than 20 minutes remaining summed up Luton’s dismal performance, but Jordan Clark’s shot two minutes later did at least need a Bachmann save.

Watford, though, added gloss to the scoreline in the 80th minute, with Sarr getting in on the act with a polished right-footed goal to make it 4-0 and bring back memories of the legendary 1997 triumph at Kenilworth Road.

And Luton’s day got even worse in the 83rd minute, when Osho was sent off for a reckless challenge on Sema, thereby ending his cameo appearance.

Watford’s excellent possession play was followed by chants of ‘Olé’ in the dying moments, and while Vakoun Bayo and Asprilla continued to spearhead a push for a fifth, the Hornets glided to the comfortable win and were welcomed with a chorus of shouts by the supporters at full-time.

Kajal S

Kajal S

kajal

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