WATFORD’s late win over Portsmouth ended in farce after one Hornets star was red-carded – for taunting opposition fans with his dance moves.
Kwadwo Baah was sent off after the final whistle following a feisty clash at Vicarage Road.
Rocco Vata netted a stoppage-time penalty for the hosts to hand Watford a dramatic 2-1 win.
Following wild celebrations, Tom Cleverley‘s men saw out the game to head back into the Championship playoff places.
Baah – who had been booked in the first half – headed towards the Portsmouth away support after the final whistle.
He was filmed taunting the video fans, throwing out some moves from video game Fortnite in front of a packed contingent from the South Coast.
After his teammates tried and failed to pull Baah away, Pompey’s Terry Devlin charged over to confront the German.
Referee Geoff Eltringham brandished the red card, halting the jiving Baah in his tracks.
But plenty felt the punishment was overly harsh, with a host of supporters defending the striker on social media.
One Watford fan wrote on X: “Was receiving stick from Pompey all of the first half, had every right to go and give some back.”
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Another said: “Why has he actually been sent off?? He did nothing wrong!!”
While a third added: “Kwadwo Baah getting sent off after the FT whistle for taunting Portsmouth fans and doing the Fortnite dance in front of them. This boy is going straight to the top.”
And a fourth laughed: “To be fair he ran from the halfway line, he was hardly just walking past.”
While Watford’s official X account tweeted: “Baah giving it back to the away end.”
Cleverley’s Hornets are back in the top sixth thanks to the late Boxing Day victory.
Watford have lost just two of their last ten games across all competitions.
Their success has been built on making Vicarage Road a fortress – but the former Man Utd star wants his players to turn things around on the road.
Cleverley said in the build-up to the clash: “At home we’ve suffered setbacks and responded to them, but away from home we just don’t show the same character or mindset to come back from any deficits.
“I would never criticise my players for a technical mistake but when I see players shying away from wanting to receive the ball, then we’ve got a real issue.
“To get to the level we want to get to we can’t just do it in the home games – we have to do it in the toughest environments.
“At the minute we’re playing like a team who want to flip a coin and finish between fifth and 10th rather than really grab our own destiny by the scruff of the neck.”
FANS blasted Andre Onana as Manchester United conceded directly from a corner for the SECONDA time this season.
Things got worse for the Red Devils shortly after Bruno Fernandes saw red for his second booking.
Matheus Cunha swung a corner that went straight in as the struggling hosts went in front on 58 minutes.
Matt Doherty and Santiago Bueno appeared to box in Onana.
And as the United keeper focused on those two Wolves players, he appeared to neglect Cunha’s corner sailing over him and in to the far corner.
Stand-in United stopper Altay Bayindir had suffered the same humiliation during last week’s 4-3 League Cup quarter-final defeat at Tottenham.
But there was little sympathy for Onana from fans after his Boxing Day blunder in the Prem.
One posted: “I’ve no more words for Onana” while another posted: “Abysmal.”
A third just put: “Our two keepers conceded from straight corners in one week.”
United have now let in 10 set-piece goals this term.
Even more incredibly, that’s eight such goals breached by the Red Devils in the past seven games under new boss Ruben Amorim.
NONI MADUEKE was axed for Chelsea’s London derby defeat to Fulham.
Blues boss Enzo Maresca revealed that the England man had been dropped from the squad due to a “technical decision” rather than injury.
Fulham stole their first Stamford Bridge win in 45-years thanks to late goals from Rodrigo Muniz and Harry Wilson, who had cancelled out Cole Palmer’s superb opener.
The winger’s absence was all the more bizarre given that Maresca had to name two goalkeepers and three academy graduates on the bench to make up the numbers.
Asked about Madueke’s absence, the Italian simply said: “Technical decision.”
Maresca has already dropped and publicly criticised Madueke, 22, for his attitude and training level this season.
Speaking after the former PSV Eindhoven man grabbed a goal and an assist at Southampton, having been dropped for the previous game against Aston Villa, Maresca said: “He can do much more.
“The moment he starts to score or assist and is happy, he starts to drop a little bit and the reason why he was not playing is because I do not like the way he trained.
“He has to understand that he has to train good every day. He has to be ambitious.”
As far back as August, before Madueke had made a Premier League appearance for Maresca, the Blues boss said: “I really like Noni.
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“The only problem with him probably is that he has to understand he needs to be consistent during the week; every training, every training, every training.
“But he is a good player and he is doing well with us.”
Madeuke arrived from the Netherlands in January 2023 and has 15 goals in 66 Blues games.