Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris praised a “mature” performance from his promotion-chasing team after they beat relegation-threatened Luton 2-0 in the Sky Bet Championship.
The Black Cats kept up the pressure at the top end of the table after goals from Enzo Le Fee and Wilson Isidor sealed three points.
Victory maintained Sunderland’s unbeaten league run at the Stadium of Light this season and dropped Luton to the foot of the table as the threat of back-to-back relegations continues to loom large for the Hatters.
Le Bris was pleased with his side’s performance and the way they dealt with Luton’s threat.
“Today we had good control and were mature in that game,” he said.
“It’s very important because it was a new challenge with a team who can be dominant in the air with many set-pieces and direct plays.
“I think we were good in that part of the game, we were dominant, after that it was a question of disturbing the mid-low block to create chances.
“In that situation we needed an X-factor, I think it was important to have a player like Enzo today to make the difference.”
Roma loanee Le Fee continued to impress on Wearside and scored his first goal for the club with a low finish just 13 minutes in.
Speaking about Le Fee’s influence, Le Bris said: “Difficult for the opponent and good for us.
“He’s really well connected with the team and showed he can be a hard worker out of position and is here to help.
“He’s really talented. At the same time he’s a good team-mate and when you can earn this confidence for the team at the end you can show your good qualities.”
Fourth-placed Sunderland are still five points from the automatic promotion spots but the Black Cats boss is not getting caught up in the permutations of the Championship.
“Our only focus is to win the next game and we still have 14 games to play, so it’s a long run and things can happen,” Le Bris said.
“The only focus for us is to improve the team, face a new challenge and we’ll have another one soon.”
The defeat piles more misery on Luton, who sink to the bottom of the table after fellow strugglers Plymouth thrashed Millwall.
The Hatters’ winless run extended to nine league games but boss Matt Bloomfield – who is yet to win any of his five matches in charge – insisted that alarm bells are not ringing yet.
He said: “There’s still a third of the season left, there’s no panic from us. We have to be realistic in where we are, of course and we’ve spoken about that.
“I have to be consistent, we have to be consistent in our behaviour for the lads to be consistent in their performance on the pitch.
“We understand the situation, there was no underestimating that when we came through the door and there’s no underestimating it now.
“We know where we are but we believe in what we’re doing and will make sure we improve.”
