"Any lead has got to be good - this is the team we've got, this is what we do, and we'll go to Luton and try and repeat," said Tony Mowbray. If you were looking for tubthumping bombast on the back of a pulsating play-off victory, you asked the wrong guy.
Steel, quiet determination, and a laser-focus on getting the job done, is more Mowbray's style. It is an approach that has served him well all season as Sunderland have defied gravity following last season's promotion via the play-offs after finishing fifth in League One, clinching a Championship play-off place on the final day of the campaign, and now find themselves with one foot in another Wembley final after coming from behind to beat Luton in the first match of this two-legged semi-final.
Of course, as Mowbray was typically quick to point out, it is far from a done deal. His team must still go to Kenilworth Road on Tuesday night.
