Sunderland visit Kenilworth Road to face Luton Town in the Championship Play-off semi-final second leg. Last time out Sunderland beat Luton 2-1 in the first leg. Sunderland produced a fantastic performance at the Stadium of Light, coming from a goal behind to equalise with a stunning goal from Amad Diallo and took the lead with a fine header from Trai Hume. Tony Mowbray will be without Dennis Cirkin again, Niall Huggins replaced Patrick Roberts for the final 10 minutes and could play if Roberts is not fit. Alex Pritchard took a knock late on but is expected to recover. Luton had been planning for this for some weeks but never quite got a grip of a side that preferred swashbuckling to sitting back, and whose positivity in possession caused them huge problems. The Hatters know they can play better, and will seek home comforts when they host the second leg at Kenilworth Road on Tuesday. Tony Mowbray: "We warranted the win, we had a lot of opportunities. It's great when a plan comes together. I thought we competed really well, we've talked about the youngest team in the league and the lack of physicality, but we competed really well all over the pitch, the fans rose to that and we were like snarling dogs at times in midfield." "We'll see who's fit, who's available, then on Monday we'll get on the bus and go to Luton to try and do a job. Aji's the closest [to fitness]. He's on the grass with the physios but he hasn't played for ten weeks. It's really unlikely we're going to say to Aji 'can you play even though you haven't played for ten weeks, just because you are 6ft 3in'. "I don't think we're going to do that, but if he starts training with the team he might find himself on the bench and then if we are hanging on and we need a 6ft 3in guy in the middle of our defence to head some corners out then we might think about it. We did something similar with Niall Huggins last night. "My conversation with him is really about having a good pre-season, yet he wanted to be involved tonight and we ended up using him from the bench. Dan Ballard is not ready. Danny Batth still has a big pot on his leg, Ross Stewart will be next season, so there's no 6ft 3in footballers coming back." Rob Edwards: "It's half-time, we're right in the tie. It was a challenging game as we knew it was going to be, it was really tight as we knew it was going to be, and it was a fantastic atmosphere as we knew it was going to be. "I thought we had the better of the first half and them the better of the second. It settled down before the goal and we had lots of control, and we were brave on the ball. "We tried to take it and still remained a threat, and I'm really happy at half-time but in the second half we had to be better with the ball, we had it and gave it back too cheaply. "There's still a long way to go in this, and I still believe." Match Appointments: Referee: SIMON HOOPER Assistant Referees: Adrian Holmes and Mark Scholes Fourth Official: Andrew Madley Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-2-3-1) Patterson, Gooch, O’Nien, Hume, Neil, Ekwah, Clarke, Amad, Roberts, Pritchard, Gelhardt. Subs: Bass, Anderson, Taylor, Huggins, Michut, Lihadji, Ba. Injured: Embleton, Stewart, Evans, Ballard, Alese, Batth, Bennette, Rigg, Cirkin. Luton Town (3-1-4-2) Horvath, Lockyer, Bradley, Bell, Drameh, Mpanzu, Nakamba, Clark, Doughty, Morris, Adebayo Subs: Shea, Potts, Berry, Campbell, Onyedinma, Taylor, Freeman Injured: Woodrow Betting Odds: Sunderland 11/4 Luton 1/1 Draw 12/5 My two pence: An excellent performance from the team and the support, Luton are a strong physical team and gave us a tough game despite all of the niggly fouls. Hopefully we can continue our good away form, score an early goal, then dominate the possession and look forward to a trip to Wembley. I’m going for a 2-1 away win. Note: The winner of a semi-finals is decided by the tie's aggregate score after the two legs. If the aggregate score is level at the end of the 90 minutes of the second leg, then an additional 30 minutes of extra time is played to try to create a winning team. If the score at the end of extra time is still level then the tie is decided by penalty kicks. Away goals do not count in the play-off semi final matches. Live Stream: https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/live-video Live on Sky Sports Football Ha’way the Lads
We've got same the ref who took the Leeds v NUFC game - gave two penalties and late on a straight red. That might be a big factor coz he doesn't back away from big calls, unlike the ref we had in the first leg. The Luton midfield are going to be worrying about staying on the pitch whilst worrying about stopping our lads running at them. I can't see Luton finishing with 11 on the pitch.
Brilliant as always mate. See you have Gelhardt up front as I have seen some won’t give him the lickings of a dog. He plus everyone else of the lads who battled Saturday were unbelievable. The passion and commitment matched what was coming from the stands. Gelhardt was isolated at times yesterday battled away against defenders who were maybe 6” to 8” taller than him. His one two with Roberts which resulted in the free kick that Ahmad scored was sublime. At the moment we are looking for 11 players that are breathing things are that desperate on the injury front. To criticize any player in the club is beyond ludicrous at this moment in time. Going for a 2 - 1 with Clarke and Gelhardt getting us on the way to Wembley. HTL!!!!
Going to be a huge test. Luton will be even more direct and there will be more high balls to deal with. I really think we have to consider the shape or moving gooch out of centre back. We always seem to score away from home so that's a great thing to go into this game with. I have a feeling it's going to go to pens. Let's hope we come out of the right side of it all. The lads deserve it, they have been incredible.
Will there be a press conference today? Could do with an injury update on pritch/roberts think this ends 1-1 with a late screamer from Amad sending us to Wembley
Think I agree on all points. I said pens as soon as we got drawn with them (although I predicted a 1-1 draw on Sat) Having said that, when you look at their recent form - 1 win in 5 stands out like a belisha beacon Like you, am concerned with how direct they will go (although it only worked once on Sat and they didn't really threaten after they scored) and am thinking that if Alese is fit enough for the bench, then he's fit enough to play. I would be tempted to stick Anderson in there too The "Gooch at centre half" thing can only last so long - with Huggins fit, I'd go back to a back 4 and play Huggins-Hume-O'Nien-Alese
I reckon both will be fine - Pritch was the one talking to the press (or the Ronny Gill at least) about Tuesday.
Got a feeling this wont be your last thread of the season. Here's hoping we channel our inner Jack Ross and sneak a 1-1 draw. Ha'way the Lads.
The Ref could be the main man tomorrow. Need him to be strong but fair, they'll be some challenges out there and we need to keep 11 on the pitch, we'll score which means they need 3 ( if no penalties) and I can't see where they'll get three goals from if I'm honest. Give it all lads leave nothing in the dressing room, and the 1000 travelling have got to make the noise of 46000, easy peasy.HTL.
Many thanks again for your match day thread RTB you do a great service to all that use it . I too think we need to assess the back line, we need Gooch in the team, but not at centre back as others have said, its a big decision and depends on who is fit and available , but on the news so far I would prefer Huggins in there tbh.and leave it at that. I am also sure that Tony will make the right decision come what may. OaU.
I don't think I would change the team at all even if alese is fit as the stats showed some great work was done by our lads probably the most surprising was that they only had 2 corners the whole game. It is easy to look for height but after the first 15 mins or so when the ref started to call it more fairly( although I think he bottled at least 1 second yellow) so I think we start the same and maybe bring some height on in second half if needed but I fancy same scoreline again 1-2 to us and a second play off final
Woo hoo, the penultimate match thread!!! We already know exactly how Luton will play and it's tedious ... ... endless long diagonals, fouls and flinging aimless long balls into the box. I'm predicting an early Sunderland goal and a second from a penalty when they lose their heads as they did after Hume's goal. I'm also expecting the referee, who's stronger this time, to pull out a red or two yellows and have the Luton fans scratching their scabby heads as to why endless fouls should unjustly lead to punishment. 2-0 to Sunderland with Pritchard and a penalty ... ... Ha’way the Lads!!
I don’t see us keeping a clean sheet but I don’t see us not scoring either, all comes down to can they score 3 and I don’t think they can
What a fkn clownshoe .... https://archive.md/hwQal#selection-975.0-975.183 Sunderland took Millwall’s play-off spot – I hope they rot Rod Liddle Sunday May 14 2023, 12.01am, The Sunday Times "Football can be a very beautiful game, even if this is not always apparent while you are watching it. So it was for me last Monday afternoon as I gawped with a growing sense of horrible familiarity at Millwall’s spectacular second-half disintegration against Blackburn Rovers, a result which ensured we would be spared the misery of being defeated, later, in the play-offs. As the players trooped off at half-time with Millwall 3-1 to the good, the Sky commentator assured his audience that we were dead certs for the play-offs. I wanted to throttle him. The lead seemed to me a house built on sand. I had not liked the way Rovers skipped through our defence, threatening every time they attacked. But then the euphoria at the rather grandiosely named Stadium of Light was a bit much to take, too. Sunderland fans couldn’t believe their good fortune and were going jubilantly doolally. A sporting and measured man would take the defeat on the chin and wish the Mackems the best of luck for the play-offs. But sadly I am not that man and I hope they rot. Or better still, Middlesbrough defeat them with a patently offside goal in the final. They are the form team, mind." "I daresay they will consider it payback for that FA Cup semi-final in 2004 when a Tim Cahill goal sent Millwall through to a final against Manchester United, which of course we lost." How ignorant to say that about a stadium named after, and built on, a mine where people toiled underground and sometimes lost their lives Incidentally the bloke decided to swap teams and support Millwall when he moved to London ... ... anyone who does that doesn't understand the true meaning of pride in your team, that's not my opinion, it's a fact.
All they had to do was not concede 3 in 45 minutes at home to a bang average Blackburn no one but blame but themselves
