Nathan Jones admitted Sunderland are 'really tricky' to play against as the Black Cats denied him victory in his 300th game in charge of Luton Town. Jones' milestone - which covers the games he has managed in two spells at Kenilworth Road - ended in a 1-1 draw, with Sunderland equalising late in the game.
Carlton Morris had given Luton the lead in first-half injury time, but Elliot Embleton came off the bench to level with a little over 10 minutes remaining although the Wearsiders could not go on to force a winning goal. Luton had lost 4-0 at Watford in their previous outing, so a draw did at least prevent damaging back-to-back defeats for the Hatters.
Asked about his landmark game, Jones said: "That [victory] would have been perfect, but it was a hard fought game and every point in the Championship is tough. This is Sunderland Football Club, 40,000 [fans] every week, so they're a big club, really tricky side to play against because of the individuals they've got and they play that way.
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"It was nice to make sure we had to bounce back [from Watford] and not go back-to-back defeats after last week, as I thought we started really, really well. We're disappointed we weren't further ahead at half time.
"We had to weather a bit in the second half and then we finished really, really strongly, and probably looked the more likely to score the goal, so that's the only thing. Tough game, big club in everything, but I'm really proud of the players for everything they gave me.
"Yes we could have had a bit more quality, a bit more guile, a bit more some things, but all in all they gave me everything."
Luton stay ninth following the draw, while Sunderland slipped one place to 16th in the Championship table. Luton's next game sees them entertain Reading on Tuesday, while Sunderland are at Huddersfield Town on Wednesday in a game that will be broadcast live on Sky.
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