Sunderland 2-1 Man Utd: More Misery For Moyes

Sunderland hold a slender advantage over Manchester United in the Capital One Cup semi-final after Ryan Giggs's own goal and a Fabio Borini penalty gave them victory in the first leg. Red Devils captain Nemanja Vidic brought the visitors level, but the Black Cats inflicted a third successive defeat on David Moyes. This tie was brought to life after a dull and decidedly cagey opening on 25 minutes when a deflected Giggs effort pinged off the top of the bar. Sunderland certainly showed little respect to the Premier League champions here, but lacked quality to make much of an impression. Adnan Januzaj had the ball in the net seven minutes before the break for United, rifling home at the second attempt. This was rightly ruled out, however, as the initial effort hit Giggs in an offside position. Veteran Welshman Giggs saw his eventful first half end by putting through his own net in stoppage time. Under pressure from former teammate Phil Bardsley, he turned Wes Brown's square ball past David De Gea after a Sebastian Larsson set piece delivery.

Gus Poyet and the Black Cats were ahead for barely five minutes, however, as the Red Devils levelled through skipper Vidic. He lost his marker back post to nod in Tom Cleverley's left wing corner. The visitors then saw Jonny Evans limp off with a back problem. De Gea kept out Larsson's volley when a Vidic clearance fell to the Swede after an hour. Moments later the hosts had a penalty when sub Adam Johnson went down under a clumsy Tom Cleverley challenge. Borini blasted the spot kick down the middle putting Sunderland ahead again. Januzaj curled a wicked effort across Vito Mannone's goal and narrowly wide as United tried to equalize again. The talent youngster scooped another chance onto the top of the net later on.

Poyet takes another cup scalp no matter what happens in the second leg. Moyes must be concerned by yet another tepid display. January reinforcements are a necessity for both teams for different reasons.