Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 Sunderland: Home side ease to win over much-changed Black Cats
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Dennis Adeniran's brilliant shot gave Sheffield Wednesday the lead
Dennis Adeniran's stunning long-range effort helped Sheffield Wednesday knock Championship Sunderland out in the first round of the Carabao Cup.
After an uneventful opening 15 minutes, the League One side took the lead through Adeniran's superbly struck 25-yard strike.
Adeniran then claimed an assist when he intercepted a poor pass out from the back from Black Cats goalkeeper Alex Bass and centred for substitute Sylla Sow to sweep in from 12 yards out.
The visitors, who made 11 changes, barely threatened as their 18-match unbeaten run came to an end.
Sunderland's exit meant that 12 Championship sides were beaten by a lower league opponent in the first round of this season's competition.
There will now be just eight second-tier sides in the second round of the EFL Cup, four fewer than the previous record low of 12.
Sheffield Wednesday made eight changes from their 1-0 win at MK Dons on Saturday and victory gave them some modicum of revenge for their defeat by the Black Cats in last season's League One play-offs.
Sheffield Wednesday boss Darren Moore told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"To ring the changes and see the boys that came in perform like that really was excellent for me, playing against good opposition.
"I thought our players got stronger as the game wore on and I thought we started to dominate the game in and out of possession, which was good, and to see the game through was most pleasing.
"The players are competing to play every single week and that's what we want here."
Sunderland manager Alex Neil told BBC Newcastle:
"I'm disappointed that to a certain extent we were the makers of our own downfall. I don't think we got carved apart too often, only really when we made the mistake for the first goal.
"I thought we controlled the ball without threatening. I don't think we had enough of a threat, but that's my responsibility and my burden.
"We've got Jack Diamond who's a wide player playing centre-forward, we've got Harrison Saunders who's a midfielder playing left wing-back.
"But I just felt, the physical effort we've put in the previous two league games, that I didn't want any of the other lads who had been featured to expose themselves this evening, because we have a lot of midweek games coming up and that's going to be really taxing for us."