Bloomfield critical of Luton's defending ahead of Watford penalty he didn't think would be given

Luton boss Matt Bloomfield wasn’t convinced that Watford should have been awarded an early penalty during their 2-0 derby defeat at Vicarage Road yesterday, although criticised his side’s defending in the build-up to the spot-kick.

The Hatters had made a decent enough start to the contest in Hertfordshire, as they looked to heap more misery on their opponents’ poor home form, the Hornets losing five in a row and not enjoying a victory in front of their own fans since Boxing Day, but as has been the case for the majority of the season, Town were behind to one of the home side’s first real attacks.

It should never have got as far as it did though, Yasser Larouci’s seemingly harmless ball forward seeing Mads Andersen well positioned in front of Mamadou Doumbia, trying to let the ball run through to Thomas Kaminski. However, with the Belgian international slow in coming off his line, coupled with Andersen’s inability to keep his body in front of the Hornets attacker, it led to a clumsy intervention from Luton’s keeper in the box that saw the Malian touch the ball first before going over the Town stopper’s body as he slid out to claim possession.

Referee Andre Kitchen was left in no doubt it was a foul, whistling immediately for a penalty that Tom Dele-Bashiru confidently tucked away into the bottom corner to break the deadlock. Asked for this thoughts on the decision, Bloomfield said: “At the time my view wasn’t of panic, I didn’t think it was a stonewaller. When you’re stood on the sidelines, you usually have a gut feeling, I didn’t think that it was going to be given if I’m honest.

"I’ve seen it a couple of times back and the question I was asked was there was probably an argument for it either way and after seeing it back, there probably is an argument for it either way, but it shouldn’t have got to that situation. It was a situation I felt we had under control. We had Mads between the player and the ball, Thomas coming out to collect the ball, so either the ball needs to be cleared, or the player needs to be guided away from the situation so the goalkeeper can come out and take it.

"Unfortunately for us, neither really happened and as soon as you do that, you leave it to the referee’s decision and of course, it can go either way. You’ve seen them given, you've seen them not given. I have my argument for it not to be given, but also at the same time its been given, so it’s too late now."

Bloomfield was also hugely frustrated by the ease in which the Hornets were able to double their advantage, Giorgi Chakvetadze racing away from Andersen again on the left and with only Amari’i Bell back defending the area, was able to commit the Jamaican international, who missed his challenge, picking out Edo Kayembe to tap home from virtually on the line.

The boss continued: “It was our goal kick, it shouldn’t result in an opposition’s goal so we’re disappointed, bitterly disappointed. A little bit of quality that they possess in the attacking areas, if you give them the opportunity they’re going to hurt you. Unfortunately we gave them two opportunities to hurt us, we should have sorted both situations and then we gave ourselves a mountain to climb in the second half.”

Watford boss Tom Cleverley didn’t think the earlier penalty call had any influence on the overall result though, as he added: “I've not seen it back, it looked like the goalkeeper got there late and brought him down but I don't think the decision for the penalty would have had an impact on the result today. I didn’t think I would enjoy it as much as I did to be honest.

“I thought it would be a bit more nervy. But when I saw the players after 10 minutes, I knew they were on it today. They had the fire in their eyes and the personality to play. It’s my first victory as the coach in the derby. It’s very sweet. I want the players to enjoy these moments and work hard so we have a lot more of them.”