Watford defender explains why he taunted Luton's Osho following red card

Gabe Osho is sent off during Luton's 4-0 defeat against Watford

Centre half waved Town substitute off the pitch following his dismissal

Watford defender William Troost-Ekong has explained why he decided to taunt Luton’s Gabe Osho following the latter’s red card during Sunday’s 4-0 defeat for the Hatters.

With seven minutes to go and the game already done and dusted for the visitors, Osho, who had just lost the ball in a strong tackle when venturing forward, then went sliding in recklessly on Ken Sema on the touchline.

It was enough for the Town sub, who had been brought on at half time to replace Sonny Bradley, to be given his marching orders by referee Bobby Madley, dismissed for the first time in his career, with manager Nathan Jones labelling his player ‘stupid’ in his post match press conference.

TV replays then caught Troost-Ekong waving in Osho’s face and pointing towards the Vicarage Road changing rooms, to the annoyance of both Harry Cornick and Jordan Clark, who pushed the defender away.

Speaking to the Watford Observer about why he did it, Troost-Ekong said: “I was sending him off with a wave and telling him I hope he has a nice journey home!

“That’s what derby games are about.

“It was a horrible tackle, he deserved the red card and I just had to give him a good wave before he left.”

The Nigerian international, who notched the hosts’ second goal just before half time, also admitted that the home players had spoken prior to the game to hammer home the significance of the contest for the previously out of form hosts.

He added: “We had a player meeting and that was the key message to all the players.

“We had to stand up to the challenge. This was a huge game

“I said ‘Look guys, people have talked about us as a team that can be bullied but I don’t believe that’.

“All of us in the squad at some stage of our career have played lower league or come from all different sorts of backgrounds.

"We’ve all had to fight in our careers so we have to do it every week on the pitch.

“I’d back our boys against anyone, regardless of the size of the opponent, but we had to find that grit.

"That was the message today, find that grit: whatever it is that motivates you, use it and play with that fire inside you.

"We did that from the start today.”