“I don’t understand that decision”. That was Javi Gracia’s view of the red card shown against Christian Kabasele after tonight’s Carabao Cup penalty shoot-out defeat to Tottenham Hotspur - a sending off the Hornets have now officially lodged an appeal against.

The Hornets were leading 1-0 through Isaac Success’ goal when referee Lee Mason not only decided the substitute, who had only been on the pitch for a short time, had fouled Dele Alli, but decided the challenge was also worthy of a red card.

A player can only be sent off for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity if he is deemed not to have made an attempt to play the ball. However, replays of the incident show this is not the case and the direction of the ball after the challenge suggests Kabasele in fact touched it.

Asked if Watford would appeal the sending off, Gracia responded: “I think so.”

The Hornets subsequently confirmed that an appeal against the red card has been lodged.

Following the penalty, Spurs took the lead through Erik Lamela but the 10-man Hornets refused to lie down and equalised in the last minute through Etienne Capoue. However, it was not to be Watford’s night from 12 yards as Tottenham prevailed 4-2 on penalties.

The Hornets boss said: “I’m very proud of my players because today I think we’ve played really well and I like to respect the referees, the decisions, to support them because I know it’s not easy.

“Today it’s hard to accept first the penalty and after the red card, I don’t understand that decision.

“We tried until the end and today we competed against a very good team in Tottenham, and as I told you before I’m very proud of my players.

“We scored at the beginning of the second half and then we tried to tried to manage the game, we had to defend close to our goalposts, but on counter-attacks we had chances to score with (Ken) Sema for example.

“We know if you don’t kill the game and score another game then Tottenham can score one, two or three goals. Today on the penalty shots we lose but I would have liked my players to have had the reward because today, in my opinion, they have played really well with young players keeping a high level.”

Asked if he thought Dele Alli had dived, Gracia said: “I don’t know. What I saw was Dele Alli and Kabasele fighting with their arms to win the position and after from the bench I didn’t see better.

“I don’t speak only about the penalty, I speak about the next decision, the red card. I don’t understand why the referee showed that red card in that moment.”