It’s Pedro’s party but Jones is furious with bad Hatters

BRAZILIAN teenager Joao Pedro celebrated his 19th birthday with the only goal of the M1 derby to give Watford bragging rights over a disappointing Luton.

But Hornets head coach Vladimir Ivic warned the youngster he will have to continue working hard to keep his place in the face of fierce competition from other strikers at the club.

‘It’s nice to score on your birthday,’ Ivic said. ‘A good present for himself, for the team, the fans and for all of us who are close to Watford FC. You recognise quality players and sure Joao Pedro has quality. But he has played three games and it’s important for him to work hard for the team first of all.

‘ We have other players in this position not ready to play yet but we have a lot of competition. It’s important that all of them do what they do for the team.’

Pedro struck in the 35th minute, just after James Collins had fired Luton’s best chance against the crossbar. But it was almost all Watford after that as the Hatters failed to get a shot on target.

Luton head coach Nathan Jones was frustrated by his team’s display in the long-awaited first meeting of the rival clubs since April 2006. Police were so worried that passions might run high that they called for a 12.30 kick-off, even though the game was behind closed doors, and the statue of Graham Taylor outside Vicarage Road was boarded up in case of vandalism.

‘We were flat,’ Jones said. ‘The game changed in two minutes and that was the difference between the two teams.

‘But I am just flabbergasted by the lacklustre performance. I did not see that coming. I thought at least we would be right at it. If there had been fans in the stadium they would have demanded more.’

Luton’s only attack worthy of the name came when Collins met Harry Cornick’s low cross but his firsttime shot hit the bar. Seconds later Ken Sema’s cross from the Watford left found Pedro free of markers to prod the ball in with the help of a deflection.

Nathaniel Chalobah should have doubled the lead in the second half but did not get enough on his header, while Matty Pearson blocked a shot from Pedro. Simon Sluga then plunged to his left to palm away a deflected shot from Watford sub Tom Dele-Bashiru.