After Luton had taken an early lead it looked like it was going to be a hard fight to get anything from this game but we did just that with a great battling display. For me this was the difficult leg and now I think we can go into Tuesday’s match with confidence of getting to the final.
BEFORE
What a great season this has been and a few weeks ago I really couldn't see us getting this far. Now that we've got to the play-offs, I think we can at least get to the final. One of my best mates is a Luton fan but he isn't confident that they'll beat us and told me yesterday that they'd never got promoted via the play-offs. I'll be watching the match with other members of the London Branch in a pub in Waterloo where I saw us get that draw against Sheffield Wednesday a year ago. I haven't heard any team-news but I'm not aware of any injuries from the Preston game. We all know it's going to be a bit like 'Land of the Giants' whenever we concede a corner or a free-kick near our box but we'll just have to keep these to a minimum. I'd rather let Luton do the worrying as they must be very concerned about what Amad, Clarke, Pritchard and Roberts could do to them. I'm pretty confident that we can beat them over two games but I feel today's match will be a draw so my match prediction is 2-2.
I got to the Stage Door around 4.30 and secured a seat with a good view of the screen. There were a number of other members of the faithful there already and I got chatting with them. One of my nephew’s mates surprisingly appeared and I was pleased to see that his American wife was also wearing the colours. I myself was sporting my SAFCSA London Branch jersey, which at two for a fiver was clearly not tat. I got the team-news and from what I could figure the only change from the Preston match was that Pritchard was starting and Cirkin was missing, presumably injured. Huggins was back on the bench and that was good news. The beer wasn’t cheap at £7 a pint but it was a special occasion. As kick-off approached there were at least sixty of our lot in the pub so there was bound to be a good racket. Others near me were also going for a draw and then a win at Luton as the match began.
THE MATCH
There were boos from our fans in the second minute when Lockyer hit the deck and rolled around a bit but he looked okay and was able to continue. Patto had to deal with a couple of crosses but he held them both well – those Luton forwards did look on the mega side, though. In the fifth minute we made our first real attack and it resulted in a Clarke shot hitting the side support. Then we won the first corner of the game and though it came to nothing, we had the bit between our teeth and next thing Horvath in goal was diving to block a low Roberts shot. Luton won a corner in the tenth minute and as feared they were able to head it around our box before Adebayo finally smashed it home from close range to put them one-up. Neil was yellow-carded for a tasty sliding-tackle on Morris but we got the resultant free-kick clear. Luton were looking like a powerful unit and they were looking more likely to score than us. Nakamba got away with just a talking to from referee Tim Robinson for a foul and that didn’t go down well with our fans in the stadium and the pub.
A great block by Hume conceded another corner and Patto glided up to pluck it from the air, much to everyone’s relief. Nakamba was booked for a second foul and quite rightly. Very soon O’Nien was booked for a foul near the left angle of our box and Patto did very well to get down to collect the resultant free-kick near his left post. A goal for us seemed a long way off as Luton were dealing comfortably with our attacks but all that could change in a moment. There were cries in the pub of, “Get the fucker off!” as Mpanzu committed a dirty foul near the right angle of their box but there were very soon cries of great joy when the free-kick was tapped to Amad and he wellied the ball into the top left corner(ish) to put us level. Five minutes to go to the break and things were looking a lot rosier. Ekwah went down in their box but Mr Robinson wasn’t having any. We were soon awarded a corner as a chant of, “We are Sunderland!” erupted in the bar. We enjoyed our best attacking spell and a powerful Ekwah effort was on target but Horvath held it well. There was applause and a good buzz in the bar as the half-time whistle went.
As we kicked off again it was anybody’s game and we soon won a corner that after much passing around the edge of their box resulted in a Gelhardt effort that wasn’t far wide. There was a short delay while Lockyer was down injured, again. We were looking more confident as we passed the ball around effectively. As we approached the hour-mark I wasn’t expecting Mowbray to make any changes in a hurry. Roberts then went on one of his mazy runs but the final shot wasn’t powerful enough to threaten Horvath. Next thing, though, we were in the lead when following a corner Clarke crossed and Hume was there to head it home from close range. Twenty-five minutes to go and things were feeling good. Luton had been sitting back but would now have to come out more. We won a corner in the seventieth minute which resulted in Ekwah and Neil having a pop at goal but neither succeeded. I could feel another goal for us coming, though.
Doughty and Clark joined the yellow-card club and it was clearly going to be a blood and thunder finish. With less than fifteen minutes to go there were still no changes for us but the time was ticking away nicely. With ten minutes left Huggins came on for Roberts. Amad was booked for a very dodgy dive in their box. “We are Sunderland! We are Sunderland!” echoed around the bar as full-time approached. Pritchard had to limp off in the last minute to be replaced by Ba and then six minutes of stoppage-time were announced, which we definitely could have done without. We fought on and survived a free-kick in the dying moments before it ended 2-1 to much rejoicing.
