Playing well, creating chances, but trailing. With 70 minutes gone at Luton, it was looking like another frustrating day on the road for Tony Mowbray's Sunderland.
Back-to-back defeats at Blackburn and at home to Burnley had halted their momentum, and a third successive reverse looked like it might be on the cards. But this time Mowbray had an extra trick up his sleeve.
At last! An actual, natural, centre-forward on the bench who could be brought on to give the Black Cats an attacking focal point as they chased an equaliser. Ellis Simms was back in the squad for the first time since the on-loan Everton man limped off with a toe injury at Reading in mid-September, which ruled him out of the next seven games.
