Luton man highlights Sunderland vulnerability which side exploited to reach Championship play-off final

Luton defender Gabriel Osho says the side targeted Sunderland’s vulnerability from set-pieces to win their Championship play-off semi-final.

The Hatters scored twice from crosses into the box to win 2-0 at Kenilworth Road, meaning they won the tie 3-2 on aggregate.

Asked if there was an emphasis from set-pieces, Osho, who scored Luton’s first goal in the 10th minute, replied: “Yeah there was.

“I don’t know what it looks like on the TV, but on the pitch I felt like we were just ten times bigger than all of them.

“In the first game the first goal came from that and we knew that was going to be something that we could use.

“After the first goal we didn’t really do it as much, but we knew that was going to be a really important factor in the game for us.

“We really utilised that and could have scored a couple more from it probably.”

When reflecting on the tie against Sunderland as a whole, Luton boss Rob Edwards said: “We played well in the first half up there, and they had their moments.

“They had their moments because they had 40-odd thousand people at the Stadium of Light and have got some really good players.

“We probably got a bit of criticism for our second-half performance, but they are good as well. You have to remember there is another good team there.

“They won the game but we limited them to very little chances there, and in the second leg I thought we were exceptional.

When it was put to Edwards that his side ‘did a job’ on Sunderland in the second leg, the Hatters boss added: “It’s not about us doing a job on Sunderland, it’s about us being good.

“We deserved to win the game, we were the better team, we had way more chances, way more pressure, the lads worked their socks off.

“We know what they’ve got, really good individual players that can take three people out of the game at any stage, but we limited them to shots from distance.”

“A lot has been made of the physicality thing, they’ve got physical players, they are just small. Physically they are good, they are quick, they are strong.

“They defended really well, cleared a few things off the line but it could have been more.”