Sunderland move clear at Championship summit with Luton win

Sunderland moved three points clear at the top of the Championship with a 2-1 win over Luton Town at Kenilworth Road.

Leeds moved level on points with Sunderland 24 hours earlier with victory over Watford, but Regis Le Bris’ men responded well thanks to Romaine Mundle’s superb winner shortly after the hour mark.

The visitors had earlier taken the lead 10 minutes into the second half through growing talent Chris Rigg’s third goal of the campaign, following an error from Tahith Chong, before Elijah Adebayo swiftly leveled with a header from close range.

But Mundle’s fine finish into the far corner from outside the box secured an eighth win in 11 matches for Sunderland, who have a small buffer at the summit.

Burnley join Leeds in sitting three points off the pacesetters after drawing 1-1 against Hull City at the MKM Stadium to make it eight games without defeat.

Xavier Simon opened the scoring for Hull just before half-time with a heavily deflected shot that got the better of James Trafford.

Scott Parker’s visitors found an equalizer through Zian Flemming 13 minutes from time – the Dutch midfielder powerfully heading into Jaidon Anthony’s back-post cross – but they wasted a big chance to take all three points as Anthony missed from close range in added time.

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— Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC) October 23, 2024

Elsewhere on Wednesday, Sheffield United fell to a second successive defeat without scoring as they went down 1-0 to Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium.

Substitute Emmanuel Latte Lath met Finn Azaz’s cross in the 80th minute to head in the only goal of the game, after Jesurun Rak-Sakyi had earlier had a shot blocked on the line by Luke Ayling.

The Blades drop to fifth in the table, level on points with West Brom and Blackburn Rovers either side of them, after the pair played out a 0-0 draw.

Albion went closest to scoring in a game of minimal chances as their winless run stretched to five matches, while Blackburn dropped points at home for the first time this campaign.

The day’s other game saw Romain Esse’s 13th-minute strike earn 13th-place Millwall a 1-0 win over Plymouth Argyle at The Den, with the visitors dominating possession but not making it count for anything as they stay two points above the relegation zone.