Sunderland 1-0 Hull City: Talbi's late chip sends the Black Cats into the fourth round

It took until the 71st minute for the Stadium of Light to have something to shout about. Then Chemsdine Talbi found space, ran through the Hull City defence and chipped Dillon Phillips, and that was enough: Sunderland won their Carabao Cup third-round tie 1-0 and go into the fourth-round draw.

The goal came from a quick break. Thomas Meunier, who had only just come off the bench, played the through ball, and Talbi, one of the starters, did the rest. Sunderland's head coach Regis Le Bris pointed to exactly that quality afterwards, saying of his player: "He has this space and this ability to exploit big spaces."

Goal and cards

• 71' — Chemsdine Talbi (Sunderland), assisted by Thomas Meunier. 1-0
• Yellow cards: Lucas Gourna-Douath (Hull, 54'), Luke O'Nien (Sunderland, 62'), John Egan (Hull, 72'), Elliot Stroud (Hull, 90+4')

Line-ups

Sunderland (4-2-3-1): Melker Ellborg; Trai Hume, Omar Alderete, Luke O'Nien, Dayann Methalie; Jules Ahoka, Chris Rigg; Chemsdine Talbi, Wilson Isidor, Malick Fofana; Jocelin Ta Bi. Substitutes used: Alan Browne, Tom Proctor, Thomas Meunier, Tymur Tutierov.

Hull City (4-2-3-1): Dillon Phillips; Lewie Coyle, Lucas Herrington, Nobel Mendy, Matt Targett; Jens Hjerto Dahl, Lucas Gourna-Douath; Matt Crooks, Robinio Vaz, Sorba Thomas; Mohamed-Ali Cho. Substitutes used: Regan Slater, John Egan, Elliot Stroud, Joe Gelhardt, Christos Mouzakitis.

A tie of two halves of the ball

The numbers show a tight game. Possession was almost even, and Sunderland had the better of the shooting, putting four efforts on target to Hull's one. Hull, though, won 12 corners to Sunderland's seven and committed more than twice as many fouls, 17 to eight. Gelhardt's scuffed effort over the bar was among the visitors' better moments, while Talbi had earlier forced Phillips into a low save.

Hull's head coach Sergej Jakirovic described it as a close contest between two much-changed sides and could only offer congratulations afterwards: "Unfortunately we didn't and congratulations to Sunderland."

A cup side and a league side

Le Bris rotated his entire starting eleven from the 1-1 draw at Brentford on 5 September, and the result will please him for that reason as much as any other. A wholly different XI still produced a clean sheet and the winner. That matters because Sunderland's Premier League season had started unevenly: the archive on this site shows a 2-1 defeat at Ipswich Town, a 1-0 win over Fulham and that draw at Brentford from their first three games.

The cup offers a different kind of target. Home ties at the Stadium of Light give a squad that is still settling in a chance to build momentum without the pressure of the league table, and this win does that on a night when the league starters were rested.

What's next

Sunderland have been drawn at home to Brentford in the fourth round, scheduled for 27-29 October 2026, a tie against the side they drew with in the league three days before this match. First, though, comes a Premier League home game against Arsenal on 12 September. Hull City's cup run ends here, and they return to league duty.