HUNDREDS of Watford fans trooped down to Chestnut Avenue, Northwood, on Wednesday to get their first look at Moldovan trialist Serghei Clescenco.

The short striker, whose running almost mirrored that of Andrei Kanchelskis, had a tough introduction to the world of English football and was on the receiving end of a couple of crunching tackles from Marvin Johnson.

He was, nevertheless, the source of much Watford created. The young Hornets had some restructuring with Clint Easton pushing from his usual position and Mark Rooney went into right midfield.

The Moldovan's presence meant that no money was charged at the turnstile as he has no work permit.

He started brightly and enthusiastically and showed he could be a creator and get on the end of some flowing moves.

Within the first ten minutes he had seen two of his own efforts just miss the target and he combined well with Dai Thomas.

At the other end Phil Gray would be very disappointed not to have scored twice with the goal at his mercy after taking too many touches and being denied by the impressive Andrew Iga.

The deciding goal of an open game arrived 20 minutes into the second half. Clescenco battled his way down the left and flighted a cross which Thomas met in acres of space at the far post.

Kelvin Davis looked to have diverted his effort past the post but it crept in.

Although Watford had a handball appeal turned down three minutes later, much of the remainder of the game was spent in the Watford half.

Luton piled forward but the defence, in particular Darren Ward and Colin Pluck at its heart, held firm and Iga made a couple of important catches from crosses. The defence was also boosted by the confident return of Lars Melvang.

Out-of-favour Dwight Marshall saw one of his efforts come back off the post but the Hornets held on for an entertaining win over the old enemy.

"We haven't had a game for a while and I thought they did quite well. We could have done better on the passing and understanding at times. We did a bit too much negative passing at times," said reserve team boss Tom Walley.

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