He's faced Luton before, but Ismaila Sarr had never played in a derby with fans inside the stadium.

Yesterday he experienced it, and also weighed in with the fourth goal in the 4-0 rout – after the game he went out of his way to pay tribute to the Hornets supporters.

“I wanted to make a special mention and give a massive thank you to the fans, because not only did they support us but they helped us to be brave on the pitch,” he said.

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“Today was fantastic, and a big bravo to all the Watford fans.”

The Senegal forward spoke about the meeting held among the players the night before the game, in their hotel, without any of the coaching staff.

“Today we played together and with a willingness to win. We knew how important it was. We had a meeting at the hotel yesterday with just the players, where we discussed how important the game was.

“Every team has got some leaders in the dressing room, and yesterday after dinner one of them came to us and called the meeting.

“I think today we showed how much we wanted to win it, and we want to win the next one as well.”

Sarr said that the players cannot now rest on their laurels, and the superb performance they served up in the game against Luton must become the norm.

“I think it’s important to have good communication. But this must happen not just for a derby game, but every time and for each game,” he said.

“It’s given us the confidence now to try and get the push for promotion to the Premier League, but we need to carry on into the next games with the same attitude.”

The early goal from Keinan Davis, which Sarr had a hand in, was the perfect way to take what the players had discussed before the game straight out onto the pitch.

“It’s always good to score the first goal, especially in the first minutes, because it gave us confidence. We obviously had the right mentality but that goal lifted the weight off us.

“We wanted to carry on the same way in the rest of the game and I think we did that. We wanted to win because it was a derby but also because we needed to win.”

Luton manager Nathan Jones described Watford’s front line as probably the best in the Championship.

“We are all good players,” said Sarr.

“We look after every detail in training with the coach. We work on tactics, technical skills in one v ones, finishing – so when everyone is in shape then we are very good.”

As for his own goal, Sarr said a very quick change of mind led him to cut inside rather than go outside.

“When I received the ball from Bayo I wanted to go past the defender, but I quickly changed my mind and just decided to do what I did.”

With the World Cup on the horizon, Sarr obviously runs the risk of an injury like the one suffered by teammate Imaran Louza which would rule him out of the tournament.

However, he says that does not enter his mind when he is playing.

“No it doesn’t really bother me at the moment because I have to be focussed on my club. As much as it’s nice and enjoyable to think about the World Cup, it’s four weeks away.

“At the moment all I have to do is be focussed on Watford. If I use mental energy to think about what might happen in four weeks then I can’t perform now.

“What matters at the moment is now. Of course sometimes I think about the World Cup, but it’s step by step as there are still four weeks to go.”

There were many who thought Sarr would not even be at Vicarage Road this season, and it’s been well documented that he came very close to joining Aston Villa.

However the player said that he was not concerned that he didn’t move and was always happy to stay at Vicarage Road.

“I never really thought about that because I always said if a transfer goes well then that’s ok, but if not I’m more than happy to stay at Watford.

“I’m here at Watford, I want to be focussed on this club. I am a Watford player and I will keep pushing for the club.

“In the summer there was something that didn’t happen, so I was very happy to stay and I have always been focussed here.”