Huddersfield Town win shoot-out to sink Sunderland and reach Carabao Cup third round

Huddersfield Town reached the third round of the Carabao Cup with a 6-5 penalty shoot-out win against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Having drawn 1-1 in normal time, the game was decided on penalties and the shoot-out reached sudden death, where Milan Aleksic’s spot-kick was saved for Huddersfield to snatch victory.

Both sides showed numerous changes from their weekend starting line-ups and the League One outfit went ahead in the ninth minute through Leo Castledine’s volley.

However, Castledine’s fellow Chelsea loanee Marc Guiu made an impact to equalise with his first Sunderland goal in the 84th minute to take the tie to penalties, where Huddersfield prevailed.

Changes

Black Cats boss Regis Le Bris named an entirely different starting line-up to after the defeat at Burnley on Saturday, with new signings Nordi Mukiele, Arthur Masuaku and Guiu among those handed starts.

Huddersfield made 10 changes from their recent win against Stevenage, with Murray Wallace the sole survivor and former Black Cat Lynden Gooch captaining the team.

Lee Grant’s side earned their spot in the second round after beating Leicester on penalties and they took an early lead on Wearside.

Match action

Niall Huggins cleared a corner to Castledine on the edge of the area and he smashed an impressive first-time volley into the top corner of Anthony Patterson’s goal.

Sunderland sought a response as Patrick Roberts’ teasing ball was cleared before Harrison Jones‘ curling cross was nodded away by Sean Roughan and Guiu had a shot blocked.

Although the Black Cats remained in control, Huddersfield showed flashes of danger when Dion Charles skewed an effort wide and Cameron Ashia’s low strike was easily collected by Patterson.

David Kasumu saw a fierce effort from distance sail wide before striker Joe Taylor made a solid clearance at the other end from Chris Rigg’s dangerous cross.

A quick move just before the break saw Castledine’s powerful shot blocked and Daniel Vost had an effort comfortably saved.

Second half

Half-time substitute Jenson Jones sent a strike into the side-netting for the Black Cats and minutes later Guiu forced Lee Nicholls to make a solid stop from close-range.

Sunderland’s intensity grew in the second half and Nicholls was tested again as he made a fingertip save to claw away a venomous Enzo Le Fee free-kick and from the resulting corner, Mukiele headed narrowly wide.

Captain Dan Neil then headed over from a quick corner move and a squared pass from Rigg was cleared before the midfielder fired just wide as the hosts continued to push.

They eventually equalised with six minutes of normal time remaining when substitute Aleksic whipped a cross in for Guiu, who flicked home with his head.

The game was halted for six minutes due to a medical incident in the crowd and in the 12 additional minutes, Ben Wiles blasted over before the game went to spot-kicks.

The first five penalty-takers for both sides all converted and after Kasumu scored, Aleksic had his effort tipped wide as the Terriers moved into the third round.

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