Advantage Sunderland.

And to think it’s away from home that Tony Mowbray’s side really come into their own.

The Black Cats will head for Kenilworth Road on Tuesday night a goal ahead after they yet again showed their remarkable resilience to come from behind to beat Luton Town in Saturday night’s first leg at a raucous Stadium of Light.

Imposing Luton looked in control of the first leg and the tie when they made their physicality count and took an early lead from a set-piece through Elijah Adebayo.

But if this season has taught us anything it’s that this Sunderland side should never be written off and once again, against the odds, they came roaring back.

Amad Diallo added another strike to his Sunderland highlights reel with a stunning leveller late in the first half. No wonder Erik ten Hag this week confirmed Diallo is part of his Manchester United plans for next season.

But Amad isn’t Sunderland’s lone attacking threat. No Championship player registered more assists than Jack Clarke in the regular season, and his 12th of the campaign was directed at Trai Hume, who headed what proved to be the winner.

The onus will now be on Luton to attack Sunderland in the second leg, which is likely to play into the hands of Mowbray’s side.

Sunderland are experienced play-off campaigners but in recent years the ambition at this stage of the season has been to reach the Championship, not get out of it. That the Black Cats found themselves in the top six come the end of the season was, according to Mowbray, a “miracle”.

They set-out against Luton with clear intent of writing another chapter in the remarkable story of the season. Former boss Alex Neil this week described this team of Sunderland youngsters as fearless and that was certainly the case in the opening exchanges.

Luton, however, soon flexed their considerable muscle.

Going forward was never going to be an issue for Sunderland. It was how his side coped at the other end that will have concerned Mowbray all week in the build-up to the game. Without a recognised centre-half and dealt yet another defensive blow when Dennis Cirkin was ruled out, Sunderland’s makeshift back three of Hume, Luke O’Nien and Lynden Gooch – with Pat Roberts and Jack Clarke playing as wing-backs – was always going to be tested by the direct and physical nature of the visitors.

Dealing with set-pieces was a worry, and so it proved after just 11 minutes when Luton took the lead against the run of play. A corner from the right wasn’t dealt with and despite Patterson making a stunning close-range save, Adebayo was on hand to fire home the opener.

The goal took the spring out of Sunderland’s step and Luton were on top. Only a brilliant Hume block denied Adebayo a second.

It was by no means a bad-tempered opening but Tim Robinson didn’t need a second invite to flash his yellow card. Dan Neil, Marvelous Nakamba and Luke O’Nien were all booked inside half an hour.

A fourth yellow of the evening went the way of Pelly Mpanzu for a poor challenge on the edge of the area on Roberts, who went down. And Amad stepped up, rifling an unstoppable drive into the top corner. Horvath had no chance.

Amad was on the search for a second, weaving in from the right, and seeing a shot deflected wide. Sunderland ended the first half on top and started the second in the same fashion, Gelhardt firing wide after good work from Pritchard.

Just after the hour mark, Mowbray looked frustrated as Clarke was second to a loose ball down near the technical area. Clarke had been quiet up to that point, but like Amad and Roberts, there’s always a moment of magic in him. And it was his cross that was brilliantly finished by Hume on 63 minutes.

The Stadium of Light was bouncing and the noise levels went up again when Lynden Gooch crunched into a challenge and geed up the fans with a fist pump near the dugouts.

Luton looked more interested in avoiding conceding a third goal rather than finding an equaliser late on.