Six minutes before half-time, he added to his catalogue of remarkable left-footed strikes whipped into the top corner, this time with a free-kick.
Having started well, Sunderland struggled to find their rhythm, but they are a side with individuals who can provide inspiration without much warning, nobody more than Amad Diallo. But if we go too direct too soon the game becomes a bit more transitional and you’re giving their best players more space.” “You don’t have to be 6ft 5in to win a header but it will be slightly different on Tuesday. “In terms of physicality, everybody’s making a big thing of that, but they compete really well,” said the Luton manager, Rob Edwards. And Ekwah showed what a class act he is.”īut on a smaller pitch at Kenilworth Road, the second leg could become a barrage. We lack physicality but I thought we competed really well all over the pitch – snarling dogs, if you like. “It’s hard if you’re 5ft 10in and trying to win headers against somebody 6ft 5in. “We lost a goal to a set play which we knew we were vulnerable from,” said Mowbray. But thereafter Sunderland, with Pierre Ekwah dominant in midfield, restricted Luton’s delivery into the box. It was no great surprise when Luton struck with their first corner of the game, Elijah Adebayo firing in after Anthony Patterson had saved from Alfie Doughty.
They will surely get the ball into the box more than they did here, and because of the injuries that left Sunderland with one 6ft-plus outfielder and a back three comprising a converted winger, a converted full-back and Luke O’Nien, who has played pretty much everywhere with the same baby-faced ruggedness, that should represent a major threat. They have had a fine season and to be so close to the top flight less than a decade after returning to the Football League is in itself an achievement. Luton, as the Sunderland manager, Tony Mowbray, said, are “really athletic, really powerful… well-coached”.
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