Match Preview | Sunderland (A)

12 May 2023

Luton Town’s second-successive Championship play-off campaign begins with the semi-final first leg against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Saturday afternoon.

The Hatters go into the play-offs with a 14-game unbeaten streak, while the Black Cats claimed their top six spot on the final day to go nine games without defeat.

Rob Edwards said:

(Click HERE to watch Rob’s pre-match press conference in full)

“Really good, really excited, it's been a bit of a long time coming for us, we’ve known for a few weeks that we were going to be in the play-offs, we didn’t know who we were going to face, now we know, we’ve been able to have a good week’s preparation and we’re really looking forward to the game.

“Some of our lads have experienced the play-offs for, it’s hard as I don’t want to talk about the final yet as we’ve still got such a big job to do and we know how difficult a task it’s going to be, Sunderland over two legs, but it’s good to have some experience of it, I’ve been a part of it before and it was an amazing experience to be part of a success, it’s almost the best way to do it, through the play-offs, when you win, but obviously there’s three other teams that are going to be desperate to do it as well.”

The opposition:

Sunderland pipped Millwall to the last play-off spot on the final day of the season with a 3-0 win at Preston and come into the play-off semi-final nine games unbeaten.

The Black Cats have not lost since March and have found form at the right time, which contributed to them breaking into the top six.

Manchester United loanee Amad Diallo has scored 13 goals this season, including on the final day at Preston and against the Hatters in March.

Last time we met:

Luton Town had to share the points with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light last time we met back in March.

Alfie Doughty opened the scoring after half-time with a well-worked free kick before Diallo scored a late penalty.

Ticket information:

Our away allocation for this fixture is sold out. Thank you all for your support!

If you are not travelling to Sunderland, find out how you can watch this game at Kenilworth Road HERE.

How to follow:

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For supporters who want to watch or listen to all available iFollow matches this season and have access to exclusive content, including pre-match press conferences and player interviews, subscription details can be found HERE.

Selected international audiences will be able to watch the game live on iFollow with a match pass, these countries will be announced in due course.

Simon Pitts will be on iFollow Hatters commentary and audio match passes are available for every match for £2.50.

The officials:

Referee: Tim Robinson

Assistant Referees: Craig Taylor and George Byrne

Fourth Official: Andy Davies

The man in the middle at the Stadium of Light will be Tim Robinson.

He last took charge of a Hatters game when we visited Reading last month.

Robinson has taken charge of 40 games this season – 29 of which were in the Championship – handing out 158 yellow cards and 7 red cards.

Match Previews

Match Reports

Play-Off Semi-Final First Leg Report | Sunderland 2-1 Luton Town

13 May 2023

The Hatters will need to over-turn a first-leg deficit if they are to reach the Championship play-off final after suffering a 2-1 defeat against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Town took an early lead through Elijah Adebayo's tenth goal of the season, but Sunderland levelled before half-time with an Amad Diallo free-kick before Trai Hume gave them the advantage heading into Tuesday's second leg at Kenilworth Road with a 63rd-minute header.

Hatters boss Rob Edwards made two changes to the side that drew at Blackburn Rovers in the penultimate league game of the season, Gabe Osho and Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu coming in for Sonny Bradley and Luke Berry.

Tom Lockyer made his 100th Luton Town appearance as the multiple player of the year award winner returned to the side after being rested on the final day against Hull.

Berry had a place on the bench as well as Reece Burke, who played 45 minutes against Hull City on the final day after returning from injury.

Sunderland started well with the overwhelming majority of the 45,000 crowd behind them, but after a delay for Lockyer to receive treatment after being caught by an off-the-ball elbow from Joe Gelhardt, all they had to show for their bright opening ten minutes was a Patrick Roberts shot that Ethan Horvath pushed safely away from danger.

The Hatters took the lead from their first attack, Jordan Clark's low cross turned behind for a corner that he delivered himself.

Carlton Morris and Osho headed back across goal, with Alfie Doughty's close range effort turned onto the post by keeper Anthony Patterson before Adebayo turned the loose ball home to send the 2,000 Town fans up in the Gods into celebration.

Town started to control the game, and Clark produced another great bit of skill to beat his man on the right and cut-back for Adebayo midway through the half, but Black Cats defender Trai Hume threw himself in the way of the goalscorer's shot.

Adebayo had also dragged a shot wide from outside the area, while Dan Neil and Marvelous Nakamba picked up yellow cards before Luke O'Nien followed them into ref Tim Robinson's notepad for leading with an arm on Doughty, who picked himself up to bend the free-kick straight at Patterson.

Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu was next into the book for a foul on Roberts on the edge of the Town area, and he was doubly punished as Diallo curled a beauty into the top corner from a short free-kick routine for the 39th-minute leveller.

Pierre Ekwah hit a tame shot straight at Horvath as the half drew to a close, then two minutes into the second half, Gelhardt fired wide after being set up cleverly by Alex Pritchard on the right edge of the area.

After receving more treatment, Lockyer was called upon to throw himself in the way of another Roberts shot just after the hour, before Hume headed Clarke's left-wing cross home to put the hosts in front on 63 minutes.

Diallo curled another free-kick over the bar, then Neil volleyed over from 25 yards after Ekwah's shot had been blocked on the edge of the area as Sunderland tried to make the most of their second-half dominance.

Doughty was the third Hatter to see yellow for a foul on Roberts, with the Black Cats winger rolling around having barely been touched, then Clark became the fourth before being replaced by Luke Berry with just over ten minutes to go.

Morris tried his luck from distance straight after the change, but his effort was off target, before Diallo was booked for simulation in the Town penalty area as Osho went to close him down, with the Sunderland man going to ground.

Mpanzu's shot was blocked deep into stoppage time as the Hatters remainly firmly in the tie going back to Kenilworth Road on Tuesday evening for the second leg.

TOWN: Horvath, Drameh (Onyedinma 72'), Osho, Lockyer, Bell, Doughty (Burke 88'), Nakamba, Mpanzu, Clark (Berry 79'), Morris, Adebayo.

Subs: Shea, Potts, Campbell, Freeman.

Goals: Adebayo 11'

BLACK CATS: Patterson, Roberts (Huggins 81'), Gooch, O’Nien, Diallo, Clarke, Pritchard (Ba 90+1'), Neil, Gelhardt, Hume, Ekwah.

Subs: Bass, Taylor, Lihadji, Michut, Anderson.

Goals: Diallo 39', Hume 63'

REFEREE: Tim Robinson

ATT: 46,060 (2,000 Hatters)

Match Reports

Ticket News

SOLD OUT | Sunderland Play-Off Semi-Final First Leg (A)

10 May 2023

The Ticket Office can confirm that our away allocation for our play-off semi-final first leg against Sunderland has now SOLD OUT.

As advised in the play-off away leg sales plan, once tickets have sold out the Ticket Office will close phone lines to allow us to print these tickets. As the game sold out earlier today (Wednesday), our phone lines will close at 12.30pm.

Our doors will remain open for anybody wishing to collect their tickets for either the home or away leg. Doors will be open until 8pm.

We would like to thank everyone for their support, we will see you at the Stadium of Light!