Well, that was fun, wasn’t it?
Another home league cup tie, another encouraging victory, and suddenly, the competition — from a Sunderland perspective — seems to be opening up. We couldn’t…could we?
Amid a Premier League campaign marked by turbulence and a Europa League odyssey that’s taking shape, Sunderland were able to rotate significantly last night, yet still get the job done against what looked like a strong Brentford team. Sunday’s draw with Leeds was OK — this was far better, and it’s something
we can hopefully build on.
After some promising early signs, Chemsdine Talbi’s opening goal was a masterpiece of, well, let’s call it “good natured pickpocketing” as a shot from Jocelin Ta Bi (the Ivorian winger was electric all evening, it must be said), trickled towards the goal, with the Moroccan winger on hand to make sure the ball didn’t hit any phantom roadblocks or errant divots on its way in, thereby causing it to bobble wide or stop dead.
It wasn’t going to happen but Talbi clearly thought “Screw it. This is mine”.
A surreal moment, but there was nothing borderline about Sunderland’s second as Timur Tuteriov continued his recent run by sweeping the ball home after another lively team move and a pass from Ta Bi.
2-0. A rich reward for an encouraging display and some emphatic statements delivered by Régis Le Bris’ fringe players.
There was a lot to like about our performance on Wednesday night.
We seemed to a strike a good balance between creativity and solidity; between showing enough in an attacking sense and ensuring that we were sturdy enough to avoid any wobbly moments. OK, Callum Wilson and Igor Thiago’s goals were slightly irritating from a red and white perspective but this was a strong Brentford team and you always felt that they’d play a part — whether major or minor — in turning the game into a typically open League Cup affair.
After our recent struggles in the league, this felt like a real tonic for Sunderland.
Can we use it as the perfect slingshot to see off Coventry at the weekend and begin to build some momentum in the Premier League? Hopefully, and a quarter-final berth in a cup competition is always something to savour.
It’s probably fair to assume that the group that lined up for kick off on Wednesday night will bear little resemblance to the XI that runs out at the CBS Arena on Saturday, but they also did their cause no harm at all and perhaps some of the solutions to the problems being grappled with by Le Bris are closer to home than he might’ve thought.
Once again, and as has been the case on almost every occasion he’s played, Jules Ahoka caught the eye with a display that flew in the face of his lack of senior football and hinted at another bargain being secured in the summer transfer window.
The Congolese midfielder combines athleticism, dynamism and the kind of maturity that’s often rare in newcomers to English football.
Immensely impressive on the ball and a hard worker to boot, the former Royal Antwerp prospect continues to make a huge impression whenever he’s called upon and it feels like a matter of time before he’s considered a genuine candidate to start games in the league — even if that may prove a contentious discussion point in the weeks to come.
However, if Sunderland’s first two goals were important in establishing a lead, our third felt positively cathartic as Malick Fofana buried a header from a Ta Bi cross to make it 3-0 to the Lads — a first goal in red and white for the deadline day signing from Lens and hopefully a landmark moment as he seeks to ignite his fledgling career on Wearside.
Nobody had written the Belgian winger off as has been claimed in some quarters, but it’s fair to say that it hadn’t quite happened for him in a red and white shirt and that people had rightly been highlighting that.
His quality and pedigree are clearly in no doubt, and hopefully he’ll now feel liberated and ready to make even more meaningful contributions as we attempt to balance cup progress at home and in Europe with improved league form.
For now, feel free to crack open an ice-cold can of your favoured energy drink and raise a glass to Sunderland’s youngsters.
Had we lost this match, we might well have (semi-jokingly) dismissed it as a minor-league trophy that we weren’t concerned about winning. As it is, perhaps the opposite is true. We’re still in it — could we go on to win it?
Watch this space.
28 October 2026
League Cup RO16
Stadium of Light
Sunderland: (Talbi 26’, Tuteriov 29’, Fofana 39’)
Brentford: (Wilson 42’, Thiago 94’)
Sunderland: Ellborg; Browne, Danso, Alderete (O’Nien 60’); Methalie, Diarra (Rigg 45’), Ahoka; Ta Bi (Scott 93’), Talbi (Proctor 79’), Fofana; Tuteriov (Meunier 60’)
Subs Not Used: Moore, Jones, Whittaker, Ogunsuyi
Brentford: Valdimarsson; Kayode (Hickey 59’), Schuster, Collins (Ajer 71’); Diouf, Sangaré (Jensen 59’), Janelt; Wilson, Damsgaard, Anthony (Schade 71’); Igor Thiago (Outtara 59’)
Subs Not Used: Kelleher, Nunes, Lewis-Potter, van den Berg
