Sunderland kept up their pursuit of the automatic promotion places and piled more misery on Luton as they beat the Sky Bet Championship strugglers 2-0 at the Stadium of Light.
Enzo Le Fee fired the Black Cats in front after just 13 minutes to notch his first goal for the club and Wilson Isidor doubled the lead after the break.
Sunderland remain unbeaten at home in the Championship this season and keep the pressure at the top end of the table.
The Hatters sink to the foot of the standings after their winless run extended to nine league games and the threat of back-to-back relegations looms large.
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Enzo Le Fee scored his first goal for Sunderland in style to give them the lead against Luton Town in the Championship.
Dan Ballard and Jobe Bellingham came into the Sunderland starting line-up and the visitors also made two changes with Zack Nelson included alongside Millenic Alli.
The hosts had the first opportunity four minutes in when Patrick Roberts latched onto a loose pass just outside of the box and played the ball into an unmarked Isidor, who fired just wide of the post.
Skipper Dan Neil then had a shot blocked before Le Fee opened his account for the Black Cats in the 13th minute.
A great pass from Trai Hume found the Roma loanee in plenty of space on the left and he rolled the ball onto the edge of the area before blasting a low strike into the bottom corner.
Luton struggled to see enough of the ball as Sunderland continued to exploit gaps in the midfield to charge into dangerous positions around the box.
The Hatters showed a flash of threat when Carlton Morris’ header was pushed onto the post by Anthony Patterson and Alli missed from close range, but the flag was raised for offside.
Sunderland raced up the pitch, where Thomas Kaminski pushed away a powerful Chris Rigg strike and a teasing pass from Roberts bobbled across the six-yard box but Isidor was unable to stab home.
Rigg launched a low pass into Roberts, who poked the ball wide of the post just seconds after the restart, but Luton enjoyed a short spell of possession around the Sunderland box before Nelson had a shot blocked.
Isidor doubled the lead in the 58th minute after Le Fee’s low cross was collected by Lamine Fanne on the edge of the box but the Luton midfielder bundled the ball into the path of the Sunderland striker, who slotted into the bottom corner for his 11th Championship goal of the season.
Jacob Brown tried his luck from distance for the Hatters, firing a strike over the crossbar as they looked to pull one back.
However, Sunderland continued to push for a third, coming close through Roberts as he weaved through the visiting defence before blasting a shot off the post.
Hume curled an effort over the bar before Bellingham flicked a shot just wide of the upright as Sunderland closed out a comfortable victory.
The managers
Sunderland’s Regis Le Bris:
“Today we had good control and were mature in that game.
“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.
“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.”
Luton’s Matt Bloomfield:
“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.”
