Sunderland have confirmed the date for their Carabao Cup first round tie against Crewe Alexandra. The Black Cats will take on the League Two Railwaymen at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday, August 8, with kick-off at 7.45pm.
The game will be Sunderland's second of the season and will come just over 48 hours after Tony Mowbray's men begin their Championship campaign at home against Ipswich Town on Sunday, August 6. Tickets details for the cup game have yet to be confirmed by the club.
The first round draw - which is regionalised at this stage - was made live on Sky Sports News on the afternoon of June 23, with former Nottingham Forest, Spurs, and Hull City defender Michael Dawson drawing the home teams and ex-Lincoln City and Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley the away sides. It will be only the second meeting between the sides in the competition, with the previous match coming in September 2004 at the second round stage.
On that occasion, Mick McCarthy's Black Cats were knocked out 4-2 on penalties at Gresty Road after the sides had fought out a 3-3 draw after extra-time. Steve Jones had put Crewe - who were then in the Championship - in front inside the opening 20 minutes, with Chris Brown equalising ten minutes before the break.
Dean Ashton then gave the hosts the advantage for a second time just after the hour, only for Brown to level things up inside the final ten minutes to send the game into extra-time. Stephen Elliott then put Sunderland ahead just before the midway point in extra-time, but Stephen Foster equalised in the last minute to take the match to penalties.
Elliott and Sean Thornton scored their penalties for the Black Cats but defenders Steven Caldwell and Neill Collins failed to convert, while Crewe scored all four of their spot-kicks to go through. Crewe were then beaten 3-0 at home by Manchester United in the next round.
Sunderland have never lost at home to Crewe, winning five of their six meetings on Wearside. The most recent game between the sides at the Stadium of Light came in League One in March last year, when goals from Dan Neil and Patrick Roberts gave Alex Neil's side a 2-0 victory.
