The hosts took the lead just 16 minutes in when Chris Maguire converted from just inside the box, before James Collins equalised from the spot with 25 minutes to go after Danny Hylton was tripped.

However, Hylton was shown a straight red card for a coming together with Jack Baldwin, before Chris Maguire was also given his marching orders late on for a stamp on Alan McCormack.The point takes Town to within four points of Portsmouth, who were defeated by Blackpool.

Harford said: "It was very, very eventful and I am proud of the players, the players were magnificent. They've gone out there, played a style of football, and Sunderland, that was above the level in terms of where we are. Exciting football, we could have been 3-0 up in the first 15, 20 minutes – the keeper pulled off some magnificent saves. We took a bit of pressure and they scored a goal that disappointed us a little bit, but we got in at half-time 1-0, we came out and in my opinion, dominated the game and got our deserved goal.

"Overall, the players, the staff, they've been amazing for the past few days in terms of what has happened at the football club and I am very proud of the players in terms of what they have done and what they have achieved today. 37,000 supporters here today and I think a lot of them will go away and say 'Luton Town are a good football team'.

"We're a group, we're a good group. They all want to contribute, they manage themselves basically. The team that went out there today, they managed themselves. You've got your senior players who know the routines of what we do and what we're about. So it's been a whirlwind, but we move on, the football club goes on and we're really looking forward to the challenge. But if we put in performances like that, then we will definitely be pushing for promotion out of League One."