THE FA Cup has a habit of throwing up surprises and, at Griffin Park on Saturday, the oldest cup competition in the world duly produced another.

Premiership Sunderland, who came to close to beating champions Chelsea earlier this month, were humbled at the hands of Brentford.

But, while the jubilant pitch invasion that accompanied the final whistle underlined the magnitude of the League One side's achievements, it was not the final outcome that constituted a significant shock.

On a day that underlined just how far Sunderland's stock has plummeted in the last six months, the only surprise was that it took Brentford 89 minutes to hammer home their evident superiority. Forget about giant-killing, DJ Campbell's last-gasp winner was more a case of putting an ailing Sunderland out of their misery.

"Brentford have done a job on us," admitted a furious Mick McCarthy, who produced a frank assessment of his side's multiple failings. "We have no automatic right to win here just because we're a Premiership team and I can only concede they were much better than us on the day.

"We can have no excuses and no arguments. I have no beef with any of the officials or anything like that - the only problems I have are with my own players.

"Brentford fought hard for everything and caused us a lot of problems. I don't like the way we played against them though and I have told the players exactly that."

Sunderland's season has included innumerable low points but Saturday's performance represented a new nadir. Utterly outclassed by opponents two leagues beneath them, the Black Cats played like a side who have grown accustomed to defeat. For all that McCarthy claims his players will have improved for their time in the Premiership, the scars of this season's debacle will take time to heal.

That time will surely be spent in the Championship and, while crashing out of the FA Cup was a bitter enough pill to swallow for the thousands of Sunderland fans who made the long trip south, the manner of their side's capitulation was an even greater cause of concern.

With Brentford currently occupying a play-off place in League One, these sides could conceivably meet on level terms next season.

While it is dangerous to draw too many conclusions from a one-off cup game, the current Sunderland side looks less suited to the rigours of Championship football than the squad McCarthy took into the Premiership last May.

If it is not inferior in quality, it is certainly less cohesive and more error-prone - factors that contributed to Saturday's defeat.

Defensively, in particular, the Black Cats were a shambles from start to finish. Twelve months ago, Campbell, who was part of the Yeading side that lost to Newcastle in the third round of last season's competition, was working as a warehouse courier.

After terrorising Gary Breen and Neill Collins with his pace and movement, it was fitting that his second-half double delivered Saturday's knockout blow.

His first exposed Breen's lack of mobility. Racing onto Jay Tabb's through ball, Brentford's DJ left Sunderland's skipper in a spin before he danced around goalkeeper Kelvin Davis and rolled the ball into an empty net.

His second was equally impressive, as he beat a hesitant Neill Collins to Lloyd Owusu's knock-down before steering a composed finish past Davis' left hand.

"I'm not criticising Brentford in any way because they deserved to win and they were two superb finishes from DJ Campbell," said McCarthy. "But I don't expect us to defend the way we did and concede goals like that.

"I don't want to say anything to take away from what the lad Campbell has done but we wouldn't have conceded those goals if I had been playing at centre-half and I'm 47-years-old. That tells you everything."

It does indeed. Breen, in particular, was rendered impotent in the face of Campbell's lightning pace and, while the injured Steve Caldwell is marginally quicker, Sunderland's cumbersome defence is an accident waiting to happen.

Tellingly, the rest of their side wasn't much better. Dean Whitehead and Tommy Miller failed to pick up Campbell whenever he dropped deep and, in attack, Kevin Kyle played like a man making his first senior appearance for the best part of 18 months.

McCarthy insisted he was right to name the Scotsman in his starting side - "he's fit, he's fine and he had to come back at some stage" - but it is difficult to see how he could realistically have expected him to perform at his peak after such a lengthy lay-off.

Kyle's physical presence will eventually be a valuable asset, but two reserve-team outings were insufficient warm-up time and both Anthony Le Tallec and Andy Gray have a right to feel aggrieved after being overlooked so readily.

Unsurprisingly, Kyle's touch was heavy and his movement restricted. It hardly helped that his team-mates spent the opening 20 minutes punting a succession of long balls into his general direction and, even if he had been able to outmuscle the impressive Sam Sodje, it is difficult to imagine Jon Stead feeding on any scraps.

Owusu and Campbell formed the archetypal 'little and large' combination for Brentford - with Kyle and Stead it was more a case of 'large and larger'. If Kyle is to make a triumphant return to the first team, McCarthy will have to devise a system that makes the most of his strengths. That should not involve hopeful long balls and limited midfield support.

As it was, Sunderland's only first-half chance saw Dean Whitehead's low drive turned round the post by Brentford goalkeeper Stuart Nelson.

Stead steered a diving header wide of the upright in the early stages of the second half, before the Black Cats grabbed an unlikely leveller when Julio Arca's mishit cross drifted over Nelson's head and nestled in the back of the net.

A draw would have been harsh on the home side, who had forced Davis into three smart saves before Campbell broke the deadlock in the 57th minute. Justice was done, though, when the 23-year-old added his second a minute from time.

The FA Cup deals in shocks and surprises and, on Saturday, both sides played their part. Brentford produced the surprise - Sunderland were simply shocking.

Brentford 2 - 1 Sunderland

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