Goals from Gabriel Osho and Allan Campbell made it a frustrating afternoon for the Hornets as Luton Town came out of the Herts-Beds derby on top.

Osho – who was sent off when these sides met at Vicarage Road in October – opened the scoring just before the half-hour, putting the finishing touch to a smart Luton attack.

Watford improved marginally after half-time but rarely troubled their opponent’s goal, and the hosts made sure of the three points with a close-range Campbell strike in time added on at the end of the match.

Chris Wilder named just one change to the team that started against Wigan a fortnight ago, with Hamza Choudhury returning from suspension in place of Leandro Bacuna.

Ismaïla Sarr was back among the substitutes after a spell on the sidelines through injury.

Unsurprisingly given this was the first derby played in front of fans at Kenilworth Road in more than 17 years, both sets of supporters contributed to a raucous atmosphere during the opening stages.

On the pitch it was an even first quarter-of-an-hour, a speculative Amari’i Bell effort from at least 35 yards curling well wide of Daniel Bachmann’s goal the only chance of note.

Luton ramped up the intensity midway through the first half and would have taken the lead had it not been for Bachmann, who produced an incredible save to deny Campbell from point-blank range following a corner.

The hosts did break the deadlock soon after, Osho converting Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu’s square ball after Watford’s defence had been carved open by a slick passing move on 28 minutes.

Yet to properly test Luton goalkeeper Ethan Horvath, Ken Sema created an opening after skipping past several challenges and teeing up João Pedro, but the attacker was crowded out in the area.

Bachmann was then called into action at the opposite end once more, parrying a Carlton Morris shot as the visitors went into half-time trailing by a single goal.

Watford came back out looking to get on the front-foot and they almost equalised just minutes after the restart, Jeremy Ngakia outjumping his marker to head a deep Sema cross just wide of the far post.

Imrân Louza then mustered the Hornets’ first shot on target, drawing a comfortable Horvath save – via a slight deflection – from 25 yards.

With 25 minutes left to play, Bachmann kept out a drilled Elijah Adebayo shot from close range and the goalkeeper subsequently required treatment, having taken a heavy blow to the stomach.

Despite looking more cohesive since the interval, Watford were still struggling to create clear-cut opportunities, relying on half-chances such as João Pedro’s angled shot from the left side of the box that was held by Horvath.

Meanwhile, Bachmann continued to frustrate the hosts, producing a low save from Adebayo, who had skipped past a Ryan Porteous challenge in the box as the clock approached 80 minutes.

Luton doubled their lead in stoppage time through Campbell, who prodded home from six yards after a corner had been headed back across goal by Morris, condemning Watford to a disappointing defeat in Bedfordshire.