Sunderland 2 Northampton Town 2
After Extra Time, Sunderland Win 4-3 On Penalties
Scorers: Sunderland - Stokes (86m, 90m); Northampton - Larkin (20m), Guttridge (81m)
Sunderland Stadium of Light
Attendance: 21,082
Carling Cup Second Round
Wednesday September 24, 2008

Marton Fulop's save from Leon Constantine's penalty gave Sunderland a shoot-out victory over League One Northampton Town, after two goals in the last five minutes of normal time from Anthony Stokes gave us a life-line.

Roy Keane named a side that featured eight changes to the side that beat Middlesbrough 2-0 on Saturday. George McCartney was cup-tied, while Teemu Tainio's shoulder injury ruled the Finn out of action. The other six changes were purely down to choice, as Marton Fulop, Phil Bardsley, Danny Collins, Carlos Edwards, Grant Leadbitter, Andy Reid, Daryl Murphy and David Healy all started.

Sunderland were awful from the off, as Luke Guttridge fired over the bar in the third minute, as we had to wait until the 13th minute before a weak Danny Collins header counted as our first real effort on goal. The Lads were made to pay in the 20th minute when the League One Cobblers took the lead, as Leon Constantine's flick-on from a long goal kick found Colin Larkin, who put the ball past Fulop.

Carlos Edwards' 25 yarder straight at the keeper was our immediate reply, but Sunderland again struggled to maintain any consistency as a side that all played in the Premier League last season (and all bar Healy and Ferdinand for Sunderland) looked more like a team of amateurs.

Things didn't get much better for Sunderland in the second half, although half-time sub Michael Chopra did test Frank Fielding with a cross and a shot straight at the on-loan Blackburn stopper. We did start pressing more, but Northampton looked dangerous on the break, with Constantine firing straight at Fulop as the visitors looked to kill the game off.

In the end, Northampton did bag a second goal, with Luke Guttridge firing into the top corner from Larkin's 80th minute cross - prompting almost a third of the crowd inside the Stadium of Light to head for the exits. A minute later, having used all of our subs, we lost Nyron Nosworthy through injury, as we all feared a humiliating and convincing defeat.

We thought Anthony Stokes' close-range shot that went past Fielding with five minutes to go was just going to be a consolation, but the Irishman's header in off the bar deep into stoppage time forced us undeservingly into extra time, which produced no more goals - sending us to penalties.

Stokes missed his spot-kick, as did Northampton's Mark Hughes, but Marton Fulop's save from Leon Constantine's spot-kick - the last of the five for each side - sent us through to the fourth round 4-3 on penalties, but it did nothing to save the Sunderland side from incurring the wrath of an irate Roy Keane.

Sunderland: Fulop, Bardsley, Nosworthy, Ferdinand, Collins, Edwards (sub 46, Richardson), Leadbitter (sub 78, Stokes), Whitehead, Reid, Murphy, Healy (sub 46, Chopra). Subs: Colgan, Miller, Yorke, Chimbonda.

Northampton: Fielding, Crowe, Hughes, Coke (sub 67, Gilligan), Constantine, Larkin (sub 98, Akinfenwa), Holt (sub 98, Jackman), Davis, Osman, Little, Guttridge. Subs: Dunn, Henderson, Dolman, Dyer.