A relieved Luton boss Rob Edwards labelled it a “good day” as his side ran out 3-0 winners against sworn enemies Watford at Kenilworth Road.
The Hatters led through Jordan Clark’s deflection in the 11th minute, with Carlton Morris netting moments after the interval and Jacob Brown then rubber-stamping the victory in stoppage time.
It ended a run of three matches without a win for the hosts, with Edwards saying: “It was good. We had a good day here on April 1 last year, and we’ve had another one today.
“I’m really pleased for the supporters today because I know how much it means to them.
“It’s been a big two weeks, and we knew we had to respond after the disappointment of our last game (against Sheffield United). The lads have done that, they’ve gone and shown it today and that’s when it matters.
“It’s no good just talking about it. You’ve got to go and show it. And they did it. It looked like today it mattered to us. It looked like they cared. It looked like they understood the magnitude of the game, so we’re really, really proud of them.
“I thought that every individual was at least seven or eight out of 10. We made a few mistakes. You’re always going to make some, but if we did, we recovered really well, either with a great block or a great tackle.
“Our intensity was amazing. Both with and without the ball, we had a real purpose and a fire about us that I liked.”
After home defender Tom Holmes almost scored the most bizarre of own goals early on, his 45-yard backpass just bouncing wide, Luton upped the tempo and Reece Burke was denied by Daniel Bachmann.
Town did get the goal they craved in the 11th minute though, Alfie Doughty swinging a corner in from the left that was met by Holmes and midfielder Clark somehow diverted his volley into the net.
Tahith Chong put a good chance over as the Hornets barely threatened, Giorgi Chakvetadze rifling into the stands and Tom Dele-Bashiru curving wide.
After the break Luton soon made it 2-0, Doughty’s set-piece once more the architect and Morris’ powerful downward header beating Bachmann.
Home goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski, a relative spectator throughout the afternoon, flew to his left to save well from Dele-Bashiru but the Hatters, despite a number of injuries, stood firm, Pelly Ruddock sending Adebayo away even if the forward was unable to beat Bachmann.
In stoppage time Luton did score a fully deserved third, substitute Brown rolling Ryan Porteous and then finding the bottom corner to send Kenilworth Road in raptures.
With the Hornets supporters quick to let their players know what they felt about the display, Watford boss Tom Cleverley added: “It doesn’t take a genius to see that it was a very disappointing performance.
“You know what you’re going to get when you come here and that is good channel balls and strong channel runs, competing, winning set-pieces, balls coming in your box.
“We didn’t stand up to that challenge well enough to start and then our own identity, which is to get on the ball, playing through the lines, getting the ball wide and into the box, we just didn’t commit to.
“So when you fall short in both areas, it resulted in a really poor afternoon for us.
“There’ll be an inquest into what we can do as a coaching staff to make the players realise, but for me it’s an away form thing and it’s something we really have to address.
“We are flat away from home, we’re not committing to trying to play football and we’re just not standing up to the battles well enough either.
“So that will result in some shaky performances and it’s absolutely my responsibility to make sure the team looks like it has an identity away from home and can start picking up results.”
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