Luton Town boss Rob Edwards insists his team is still 'right in the tie' despite Sunderland winning the first leg of their Championship play-off semi-final. The Black Cats came from behind to win 2-1 at the Stadium of Light, giving them a slender advantage to take into Tuesday's return game at Kenilworth Road.
Elijah Adebayo fired Luton into an early lead, but Amad levelled with a stunning strike before half-time and Trai Hume headed Sunderland in front just after the hour. But with just a single goal in it, and the home leg yet to come, Edwards insists his team are by no means out of it.
"It's half-time, we're right in the tie," said Edwards. "It was a really challenging game as we knew it was going to be - pretty tight, a fantastic atmosphere.
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"I thought we had the better of the first half and they had the better of the second half. It was a tight game. I think it settled down a little bit before our goal to be honest. We had lots of control in that first half.
"We were brave with the ball, tried to take it and still remain a threat. When we scored, Eli [Adebayo] had a big chance then and we had one or two good moments.
"I was really happy at half-time. In the second half, I felt we could've been a bit better with the ball in certain moments. We won the ball back and we gave it back too cheaply.
"When we had the chance to counter-attack, we just didn't make it happen by making the wrong decision or technically we gave the ball away. In those moments, we've got to be better."
Sunderland were roared on by a crowd of more than 46,000 - the highest of the season at the Stadium of Light, and therefore in the EFL. But even though Kenilworth Road holds less than a quarter of that number, Edwards says the Luton fans will crank up the volume on Tuesday.
He said: "We can do noise at Kenilworth Road and we're going to need it, we need to bring that. Their fans were well up for it last night and I know our fans will be up for it on Tuesday.
"It's half-time, I've got to stress that, we're right in the game, everyone knows that. It's 2-1 with 90 minutes at least of football to go, so we need everyone behind us for the whole duration of the game and the lads will give everything."
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