HOWARD Wilkinson, for so long the bete noire of the Bramall Lane faithful after establishing Sheffield Wednesday as a leading force in the 1980s, saw his proud unbeaten record at Bramall Lane crumble on Tuesday night.

After seeing his shadow side recover from a two-goal deficit to beat Arsenal four weeks ago, Wilkinson's Sunderland second-string were second-best throughout their Worthington Cup fourth round tie.

Sheffield United, sixth in Division One, did not take a backward step all night and were full value for a victory that was clinched by two goals in the space of three second-half minutes.

Sunderland were content still to be on level terms when a freak goal after 53 minutes gave United the lead they merited, if only for their endeavour.

Phil Jagielka's cross deceived Jurgen Macho, and as the ball looped over the Sunderland goalkeeper Stanislav Varga hacked a clearance against the underside of the crossbar.

As the visitors dallied, Shaun Murphy was the quickest to react, and he stabbed the ball home from a yard out.

Sunderland still appeared shell-shocked when United doubled their lead, and effectively ended the game as a contest, in the 56th minute.

Stuart McCall's quick free-kick caught Sunderland unawares, and from Peter Ndlovu's deep cross Wayne Allison headed past the exposed Macho from close range.

Full match report available in Wednesday's Northern Echo and online.

Read more about Sunderland here.