Tony Mowbray reiterates the strong message he'll give his Sunderland players ahead of Luton second leg

Tony Mowbray has reiterated that he will tell his Sunderland side to try and go and win the game as they take their one-goal advantage to Kenilworth Road on Tuesday night.

Goals from Amad and Trai Hume helped the Black Cats fightback from Elijah Adebayo's early goal at the Stadium of Light, but the Black Cats are well aware that they are in for a different and altogether greater challenge at Luton.

Sunderland's ongoing injury issues mean they will once again be handing over a significant height advantage to their opponent, and Mowbray insists that they cannot afford to invite pressure.

He will demand his players try and keep the ball - and says it will be a huge learning curve for most at what remains a very early stage of their careers.

"It's a tighter environment and if anything they might try and double down on what they do and we have to do the same, I think," Mowbray said.

"As I've said for most of the season, we don't have the Plan B of putting the quick guy up front and just turn them round all the time.

"We will play as we play and we'll try and create opportunities. What we can take confidence from is that generally we've found a way to score goals even without strikers this season. The team I think feels as if it can score goals. We'll be going there to try and win the game, to play our game, and then we'll see how we get on.

"I genuinely sit here thinking that we have to go and play our game under the pressure and the heat.

"Let's try and get the first pass away, let's try and get control. That's easier said than done in a tight environment where the crowd are screaming at you from a few yards away. To be brave enough to get on the ball and pick out a pass under the pressure... this is a good game for these players to see how they cope with it.

"Let's hope that as we have been, we can be really competitive."

Aji Alese will return to bolster the bench but Mowbray will again be fielding a makeshift backline, and has praised Lynden Gooch for deputising on the left of the back three in the first leg.

"I think adversity can create a strong bond," Mowbray said.

"They all take the messages on board and I've said all season that a lot of players have really strong growth mindsets. They want to improve, they want to get better.

"There's always a positive to come out of a negative and playing Lynden on the left of a back three was a big call but like O'Nien, he's desperate to succeed and improve. I've told you before that Luke has told me he'll get 15 goals up front, it's the same with Lynden - he'll play anywhere.

"He's driven, committed. He did very well and as a team we've just to keep rolling with it."