Sunderland crashed out of the Carling Cup 2-1 at the hands of West Ham United on Tuesday night after turning in a lacklustre performance. All the pace, energy and passion what was evident in abundance in Saturday's draw against Arsenal was missing which allowed the most out of form team in the Premiership a comfortable passage into the next round. Goals from Piquionne and Obinna sealed the victory despite Asamoah Gyan's second goal in red and white.

Before the game Steve Bruce talked about resting Darren Bent and giving a run out to the likes of Bolo Zenden who haven't featured much this season. Therefore it was a bit of a surprise to see Zenden start on the bench with Bent named in a strong Sunderland side. We lined up with Mingolet in goal behind a back four of Bardsley, Onuoha, Ferdinand and Richardson. In midfield Welbeck, Henderson, Riveros and Elmo looked to supply Bent and £13m full debutant Asamoah Gyan.

West Ham had the first couple of shots on goal but both Piquionne's efforts went well wide. They also forced a corner but Mingolet did well to hold the cross though West Ham continued to be the better side with Scott Parker pulling the strings in midfield.

The lads’ first effort came after some nice interplay between Bent and Gyan, which allowed Welbeck to fire from twenty yards but the keeper held his effort. We should have taken the lead when Bent and Gyan raced onto Elmos long ball forward but the Ghanaian failed to connect with Bent’s square ball.

West Ham forced a good save from Mignolet when Piquionne cut inside Onuoha's rash challenge and hit a shot and Kovac was unable to follow up the rebound, but the visitors took the lead on the half hour when Piquionne latched onto a through ball and rounded Mingolet with a cool finish.

The goal stirred the lads somewhat who went close with Riveros long range shot while Onuha headed over from Henderson's corner. We equalised five minutes before the break when Gyan converted Henderson's corner at the front post with a powerful header, followed up with the trademark dancing celebration.

After the break it was again West Ham who started better and almost regained the lead from the restart when a deflected long range effort wrong footed Mingolet but spun just wide of the post. Soon after however the Hammers did take the lead with Scott Parker once again the architect. The midfielder played in Barrera who in turn crossed for Obinna to slot confidently past Mignolet into the bottom corner.

After that the Londoners were happy to sit on the lead and though Sunderland did create a few chances we lacked urgency, pace or creativity going forward. In the second half Ben Haim got to grips more with Elmo, whilst on the left wing despite some good touches Welbeck struggled to be involved.

Before being subbed with half an hour to go Gyan had a chance to equalise following Bardsley's pull back but he blazed over. Bent also had a similar chance but did the same before Phil Bardsley steamed forward and got into a good position on the edge of the box but stabbed a left foot shot wide.

Steed Malbranque who had replaced Gyan had Sunderland's final chance of the game when he found space in the box but his left foot shot was well saved. West Ham were happy to comfortably soak up pressure and hit us on the break and almost scored a third when substitute Carlton Cole went clean through but he was denied superbly by Mignolet.

Final Score: Sunderland 1 West Ham United 2

ALS Man of the Match: - Simon Mignolet

Aidan Crowe

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