Sunderland exited the Carabao Cup at the first round stage after they were beaten by League One Sheffield Wednesday. The Black Cats arrived in South Yorkshire on the back of an 18-game unbeaten run in all competitions, but that came to an end at Hillsborough.
Dennis Adeniran scored with a stunning strike on the quarter-hour to put the Owls in front. And ten minutes into the second period, substitute Sylla Sow added the second to leave Sunderland with a mountain to climb.
Sunderland, who made 11 changes for the cup game, offered little goal threat and Wednesday saw the game out in relative comfort.
Here's how our Sunderland AFC writer James Hunter rated the players.
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Alex Bass 5
Could do nothing about the opener, but his slack pass led to the second goal
Carl Winchester 5
First appearance of the season and he looked rusty on the right side of the back three
Bailey Wright 5
Another player making his first appearance of the season, and again he looked below-par
Aji Alese 6
Did OK
Trai Hume 5
Struggled at times in the right wingback role
Jay Matete 6
Worked hard, but Sunderland need more from him
Luke O'Nien 5
No lack of effort but it was a disappointing all-round display by his standards
Harrison Sohna 6
Acquitted himself well as a left wingback
Patrick Roberts 5
Made no impact on the game whatsoever
Elliot Embleton 5
Saw little of the ball, and struggled to get into the game
Jack Diamond 6
Probably Sunderland's best player on the night, at least he offered some threat
Subs
Michael Spellman N/A
For Embleton 80mins
Caden Kelly N/A
For Roberts 84mins
Not used: Patterson, Cirkin, Batth, Simms, Gooch, Clarke, Neil
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