WHO says the Carabao Cup is not a priority now? Having claimed their fourth successive away win in this season’s competition, Sunderland stand just two more victories away from a place at Wembley. Increasingly, the national stadium really is becoming their second home.

Last night’s success against QPR – the highest-ranked side they have met so far – was their toughest, with the Black Cats triumphing on penalties after a goalless encounter.

With the pressure at its highest, Aiden McGeady, Ross Stewart and Alex Pritchard all held their nerve to score from the spot.

The contract with QPR’s efforts could have hardly have been more marked, with Sunderland’s stand-in goalkeeper, Lee Burge, saving from Charlie Austin before Ilias Chair and Yoann Barbet both skied dreadful efforts high over the crossbar.

Penalties played a prominent role in Sunderland’s run to the 2014 League Cup final, where they eventually lost to Manchester City, and while the Black Cats’ players displayed commendable composure to settle last night’s game, luck was also on their side.

Albert Adomah was at least half-a-yard onside when he set up Austin for what looked like a close-range winner with nine minutes left, but the assistant’s flag went up to rule out the goal. On such moments can cup runs, perhaps even seasons, turn.

Sunderland head into the quarter-finals dreaming of what still remains an unlikely route to the final given the quality of teams left in the competition, but whatever else his side go on to achieve in the Carabao Cup, Lee Johnson can take considerable pride and comfort in the performances of his supposed fringe performers to this point. He keeps on shuffling his pack for these League Cup matches, but whatever side he sends out does the business.

He made seven changes to the side that started Saturday’s surprise home defeat to Charlton for last night’s game, with Carl Winchester, Luke O’Nien, Dan Neil and Stewart the only players to retain their places in the starting line-up. Corry Evans was the most notable of the returnees, with last night’s skipper stepping up to make only his sixth start in all competitions since his summer move from Blackburn.

Like Evans, Denver Hume has been feeling his way back to full fitness in the last few weeks, but while the full-back made his first non-Papa John’s Trophy start since re-signing for Sunderland in the summer last night, his injury woes reappeared as he was forced off midway through the first half.

Hume appeared to damage himself as he leapt into a challenge with Osman Kakay, and while he was in obvious pain as he hobbled off the pitch, Johnson will be hoping his latest problem is not related to the ankle injury that kept him out of the whole of pre-season.

The defender’s departure was the one downside to an otherwise decent first half from a Sunderland perspective, with the visitors proving more than a match for their Championship opponents in the initial stages before holding out stoutly as QPR began to dominate before the break.

The Wearsiders served notice of their attacking intent by creating two reasonable opportunities inside the opening ten minutes, and while neither was converted, the fact Johnson’s players were looking to get on the front foot from the off highlighted their determination to stick to their preferred approach despite taking on opposition from a higher division.

Leon Dajaku forced Seny Dieng into a decent fourth-minute save after breaking onto Lynden Gooch’s through ball on the left of the box, and the QPR goalkeeper found himself having to make an even better stop six minutes later to prevent Neil from opening the scoring. The youngster dribbled his way into the heart of the 18-yard box before pulling the trigger, but Dieng got down smartly to keep the ball out down to his right.

With Dajaku flashing a dangerous low cross across the face of goal moments later, Sunderland were the dominant side in the opening exchanges, but QPR’s players had got a grip on the game by the midway point of the first half and spent the remainder of the opening period probing in and around the Black Cats’ penalty area.

Burge, who was reprising his role as Sunderland’s cup keeper, made an excellent low stop to deny Barbet, whose low strike from the edge of the area looked to be heading in before Burge flung himself to the floor to claw away the ball to his right.

Burge made further first-half saves from Lyndon Dykes and Andre Gray, and while he was beaten three minutes before the break, fortune was on Sunderland’s side.

Frederik Alves made a mess of trying to deal with Kakay’s cross, slicing his attempted clearance beyond Burge, but fortunately for the on-loan centre-half, the ball whistled an inch or two over the crossbar. Had it been marginally lower, he would have been left extremely embarrassed.

Having been pegged back towards the end of the first half, Sunderland generated some new momentum at the start of the second period, controlling the game more effectively at the heart of midfield and springing players into the QPR area from deep-lying positions.

Gooch curled a strike past the far post after cutting in from the right flank, before Carl Winchester broke purposefully towards the edge of the area from his right-back berth. The Northern Irishman looked to have created a decent shooting opportunity, but he opted to try to slide Ross Stewart through instead of trying his luck from distance. His pass went astray, suggesting he had selected the wrong option.

With Sunderland on top, QPR boss Mark Warburton turned to Austin from the substitutes’ bench, and the veteran striker almost broke the deadlock within eight minutes of leaving the bench. He swivelled neatly to meet a cross from the right touchline, but while he caught his first-time volley sweetly, the ball sailed over the bar.

The one criticism that could be levelled at both sides was that they were not really testing the opposition goalkeeper enough, although from a Sunderland perspective, the fact they were heading into the closing stages with every chance of progressing to the last eight was a decent enough position to be in.

Things might have been even better had Winchester not lashed a 76th-minute half-volley over the bar after substitute McGeady’s cross was deflected into his path, but Sunderland had a huge let off when QPR had the ball in the net with nine minutes left.

Burge saved from Jordy de Wijs, but after former Middlesbrough midfielder Adomah prodded the ball back across goal, Austin turned home from close range. QPR’s players wheeled away in celebration, but their joy was cut short by the assistant’s flag. Presumably, the call was that Adomah was offside when the initial shot had gone in, but subsequent replays suggested he was in a comfortably onside position.

The final opportunity before penalties fell to McGeady at the opposite end, but his low shot was saved by Dieng, sending the game to spot-kicks, which Sunderland ultimately won with a fair bit to spare.