Luton v Sunderland: Championship playoff semi-final, second leg – live | Championship

44 min I think it’s 31 games since Sunderland failed to score, so we can expect them to tonight; problem is, they just don’t look able to stop Luton winning set-pieces, never mind defend them.

GOAL! Luton (3) 2-0 (2) Sunderland

42 min Drameh, who’s been quiet, advances down the right, crosses, and O’Nien blocks behind. Another corner, Adebayo and Morris stood on Patterson…

40 min Morris overruns the ball and, as Neil slides in, tramples on his ankle and calf. Somehow, the ref appraises a free-kick to Luton – Neil is less than gruntled – meaning another chance for them to stick a ball into the box … but Roberts is there to head clear.

38 min Clark feed a ball in behind for Adebayo, who cant make anything of it. Nonetheless, Luton look the more likely again, their rampaging style allowing them to get the ball into dangerous areas more often than Sunderland. I wonder if Mowbray will change something at half-time, because his side are struggling to create currently.

37 min Morris lays off nicely for Adebayo, but out of nowhere, Roberts slides in to make a fine recovery challenge just inside the box. That had to be perfect and it was.

35 min There’s almost something nostalgic about watching Luton – in a way they’re not unlike 80s Wimbledon, turning games into physical contests. I’d be interested to see how that worked in the Prem, because most defenders aren’t used to facing two strikers, never mind two like Morris and Adebayo.

33 min “That Indiana Jones scene was improvised,” emails Joe Pearson. “Originally, Jones was supposed to engage in some sort of hand to hand with the swordsman, but at the time, many of the crew, including Harrison Ford, were laid low with dysentery. So Ford suggested his character just shoot him. The rest, as they say…”

I’ve read different explanations of what happened here, but that is one, and a good one to believe. I generally use it to illustrate Man United v Arsenal games towards the end of the Fergie v Wenger rivalry, but it’s waffly versatile.

31 min In comes another decent corner and Morris is up, glancing a header towards the far post … and it looks like Patterson sees it late! But have a look! He plunges to his right and prangs it away with a strong arm, then when Adebahyo recovers possession, Lockyer heads just past the for post! These set-pieces are causing Sunderland all sorts, and there’s not loads they can do to stop them from happening.

30 min Abebayo draws O’Nien out wide and after a scrap for the ball, forces by on the outside. So O’Nien hauls him back and is booked, while Luton have a free-kick down the right, not far outside the box…

29 min Sunderland haven’t really created anything yet, and ultimately, it’s easier for Luton to put them under by lamping it forward, than it for them to do the reverse, as it requires more successful passes.

27 min Doughty progresses down the left and flicks square to Ruddock, who lines up a shot only for Hume to hurl himself at the block. The alacrity with which players do that will never cease to amaze me.

26 min Amad taxes possession off Bell and bursts off then leathers a shot that Lockyer blocks at source. Everything good Sunderland are doing is coming through him – Pritchard and Clarke have been quiet so far.

24 min That’s the thing, really: Luton can cause havoc simply by sticking the ball into the box, and it’s very hard for Sunderland to stop them from doing just that.

22 min And as I clip that, here come Luton, pumping the ball into the box, and when Patterson flaps at the cross, Morris heads goalwards, forcing O’Nien then Hume to hump off the line.

21 min Sunderland look the more technical team, but…

19 min Amad drills low and hard from the left, missing everyone in the box, then Roberts, backing up, drills back the other way. Sunderland have responded pretty well to conceding.

18 min Lockyer leaves one on Gelhardt and there’s minor shoving. It’s a great contest this, and if we’re lucky we might just get the kind of scenes that no wants to see.

18 min Gooch runs away from clark down the left, so cCark trips him, playground-style. He’s booked.

17 min Sunderland only got an allocation of 950 for this game, so a mate who’s gone could only take one of his sons. The seven-year-old was persuaded to stay at home with the offers of bolognese and cake, which sounds a decent win.

15 min This is lively now, Nakamba driving a lush pass out to Doughty down the right, catching Roberts out, but the volleyed cross is well held by Patterson.

13 min Almost! Roberts swings in and Ekwah is there at the near post, flashing a header that Horvath beats away superbly … but Ekwah seizes onto the loose ball, crossing, and it hits Bell on the hand! No penalty says the ref, and I think that’s right; there was no movement of arm to ball, and it wasn’t in an unnatural position.

12 min There’s no reason to think Luton won’t create a few more chances very similar to that one, but in the meantime Sunderland have a corner of their own down the right. Can they make it count?

GOAL! Luton (2) 1-0 (2) Sunderland (Osho 10)

10 min Bit of Luton pressure, Morris into Adebayo. He can’t make anything happen but his team sustain the attack and win a corner down the left…

8 min Amad chases one and trips over Osho, who was facing the other way. Again, no foul, but he’s starting to cause minor problems.

7 min Sunderland are trying to play out from the back, brave given Luton will step onto them and, on a narrow pitch, have less space to cover. They get the ball into Diallo though, who appears on the left and flicks to no one.

6 min Backwards and forwards goes the ball, no one able to find time on it.

4 min Gooch clears weakly and Morris spreads, but when Doughty zips across the face of the box, Gelhardt muscles through him and Sunderland counter, Amad going down in the box when he runs at Nakamba and Bell, trying to nip between them like a man racing onto a Tube as the doors close. He forlornly appeals for a penalty, but the ref is having no such thing and rightly so.

3 min Clarke runs at Gooch but quickly runs out of pitch. The game hasn’t settled yet, a sequence of humps and skews – which probably isn’t far off what Luton are after.

2 min Gelhardt catches Lockyer waiting on a ball to drop and barges him out of it, but Lockyer does just enough to win the free-kick.

1 min Kenilworth Road is perhaps the most higgledy-piggledy in the country, but when you’re this close to the pitch you can forget about aesthetics because you’re there.

1 min Away we go!

Another little tussle going on tonight – join Michael Butler and follow that one.

“I’ve lived here all of my life and been a Sunderland season ticket holder for 30+ years of it,” tweets Jen O’Neill, “and I don’t know anyone who would talk like that that isn’t from the north of Newcastle or Northumberland! It’s a quite guttural Toe-knee. Love your work, just me & me fam were confused!”

Yes, it was pointed out to me by a Mackem mate (he’s there tonight) who grew up in Newcastle. I wondered if it was specific to there, but wasn’t sure so went with the general. I have learnt.

And here they come! Kenilworth Road is buzzing.

Our teams are tunnelled. It’s tight in there…

“The Football Weekly Derby!” hollers Joe Pearson. “OK, so Glendenning and Wilson are Sunderland supporters, but Faye Carruthers is a Luton fan. So 2-1 Sutherland, just like the current score. Let’s get it on!”

That was a dreadful game, but I was at an even worse one at the Stade de Lit in October 2004 on my way to watch Man United at Ibrox. That was against Rotherham, finished 0-0, and is either up there or down there with the most dreadful I’ve ever seen.

Just to be clear, I don’t know that kind of thing about everyone, more’s the pity; I was just there that night hanging about with a couple of mates one of whom supports Watford and the other Sunderland. I think Sunderland won 1-0.

Kevin Phillips is pitchside for Sky, which reminds me of a perfect usage for a footballing “ironically”, so here goes: Kevin Phillips made his full debut for Watford in 1995 – ironically, against Sunderland.

“Interesting to see how Sunderland’s wide players get on with the lack of space tonight,” emails Alan Johnson in Sunderland. “Amad and Roberts especially link well. Whereas Clarke is used to running into space. Expect them to attack down the right more than the left.”

Yup, I think Sunderland will be wanting those two to gang up on Drameh, but as you say on a narrow pitch the space for that might be harder to arrange.

Tom Lockyer says Luton always bounce back after defeats and they will tonight; Rob Edwards concedes Sunderland have an advantage, but is confident his players can produce.

Mowbray knows his side will have to defend long balls and set-plays, but his team will look to get the ball down, play through midfield, and attack. He wants to get his wide attackers one-on-one, and to start fast.

Dan O’Neil, meanwhile, notes that you don’t get many chances to play in the Premier League, which reminds us, as if we needed any such thing, just what this means to those charged with our entertainment.

Both league games between the sides finished 1-1 while, this time last year, Luton were losing 2-1 on aggregate to Huddersfield in a tie they’ll think they should’ve won, while Sunderland were beating Wednesday by the same score before seeing off Wycombe at Wembley.

Funny thing is, Luton’s formation necessarily forces Sunderland to go wide by bottling up the middle of the pitch. Against most teams, that makes a lot of sense, because it takes the ball away from the goal. I’m not sure how well it’ll work tonight, though.

Luton will, I’m sure, be seeking to take advantage of Sunderland’s defensive situation. Their two up front could almost be designed to bully Hume and O’Nien, problem being their wing-back formation could leave them outnumbered out wide. In particular, Roberts and Amad down the Sunderland right could mean a lot of trouble for Cody Drameh and Gabriel Osho.

I say these arrangements of what they have available because Sunderland’s back four is makeshift to say the least. Patrick Roberts is a winger and Lynden Gooch is a winger or wing-back, while Luke O’Nien and Trai Hume aren’t exactly specialist centre-backs. However, in attack they can damage any team, so the role of Pierre Ekwah and Dan Neil in protecting the men behind them and feeding those in front will be crucial.

Both those sides are unchanged, which makes sense. Both managers are happy with these arrangements of what they have available.

Let’s have some teams…

Preamble