Tony Mowbray conceded Sunderland might well have been fortunate to have won a last-gasp penalty in their 1-1 draw with Luton Town – but felt the decision helped balance out Wednesday’s controversial concession against Sheffield United.

Mowbray was left furious with the officials in midweek when Sheffield United’s winner was awarded despite it having been offside.

Three days later, and a contentious call was going in Sunderland’s favour, with Amari Bell adjudged to have tugged down Amad Diallo in the box despite contact between the two players appearing to have been minimal.

Amad stepped up to score from the spot, ensuring Sunderland would not suffer a second successive home defeat.

“I think we were unfortunate to be behind,” said Mowbray. “I didn’t think either team looked like they were going to score at any moment, and we needed more energy on the pitch but we got there in the end.

“Whether it was a penalty or it wasn’t a penalty, I don’t really go in there and watch stuff. My opinion is that I don’t think we deserved to lose the game, and we didn’t, so we’ll take a point against the team, bar Burnley, that have accrued the most points away from home, and move on.

“Ultimately, whether it was a penalty or it wasn’t a penalty, it was given, and we’ve had enough bad decisions ourselves here, going back to the midweek. You take them when they come. He scored, we take a point, and we move on to the next game.”

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Sunderland hit the woodwork through Dan Neil in the first half, but struggled to create chances against a Luton side pushing for automatic-promotion, with Mowbray admitting the afternoon probably provided a fair reflection of where his side stands.

“I just feel the team we had is what we are at the moment,” said the Sunderland boss. “We are missing certain ingredients that would make us a really good team. But we have to get on with it. I don’t want to keep moaning about who’s not available. We’ve got the team we’ve got, so let’s keep going, trying to find a way and be competitive.

“I felt we were that today. I’d love to be winning three or four nil every week, but in my opinion, we don’t have the ingredients at the moment to do that to teams, but we can compete. We’ve scored in 22 consecutive games now. Let’s just keep going.”